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. 2022 May 26;13:889923. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2022.889923

Figure 1.

Figure 1

Estrogen influence on adipose tissue expansion. White adipose tissue can expand through either hypertrophy, the swelling of individual adipocytes, or hyperplasia, the increase of adipocyte numbers. Hypertrophy is accompanied by a reduction in vascularization, increased inflammation, and promotes fibrosis. Hyperplasia maintains tissue health by facilitating vascularization, promoting anti-inflammatory signals and block fibrosis. Estrogen levels play a role in determining the type of expansion and location which shifts as estrogen decreases due to pharmacological drugs, medical procedures, and/or age. While normal estrogen levels result in hyperplastic subcutaneous adipose tissue growth, reduced estrogen leads to metabolically unhealthy hypertrophic visceral adipose tissue expansion.