Figure 1.

Effects of estrogen signaling in female and male SAT and VAT. Estrogen signaling in subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) and visceral adipose tissue (VAT) of both sexes has been found to promote increased proliferation of preadipocytes. Estrogen has been shown to promote anti-lipolytic effects through increasing the expression of a2A-AR in female SAT, which may, at least in part, explain the concomitant increase in SAT mass and overall anti-obesogenic effect of estrogen. In addition, Estrogen induced expression of several browning genes in female SAT. In response to estrogen, female VAT showed increased lipolysis, while lipogenic gene expression was decreased, together resulting in reduced VAT mass. On the contrary, estrogen increased male SAT volume. Adipocyte size was reduced in both female SAT and VAT by estrogen, while there were no reports of this in males. However, estrogen decreased macrophage infiltration and inflammation in male VAT. Female VAT has been shown to have reduced autophagy, adipogenesis and ROS levels in response to estrogen treatment. ER, estrogen receptor; a2A-AR, alpha2A-adrenergic receptors; exp., expression. Figure created in BioRender.com.