Fig. 3. Visceral adipose tissue cells express more ACE2 than subcutaneous adipose tissue cells.

Human adipose tissue-derived stromal-vascular cells from subcutaneous and visceral fat depots were differentiated into adipocytes (Sub AD and Vis AD, respectively). a Representative immunofluorescence of Vis AD and Sub AD cells infected with CoV-2(B) (MOI = 0.1 for 1 h and harvested 3 days after infection) evidencing ACE2 expression. DAPI, blue. ACE2, green. LipidTOX, red. Scale bar = 50 µm. Representative of eight to ten images acquired from two to five independent pools of cells from two to three donors. b Western blotting comparing the basal levels of ACE2 in uninfected Sub AD (n = 3 donors) and Vis AD (n = 2 donors) cells. Two-tailed Student’s t-test: b, P < 0.01. MW, molecular weight. c–e RT-qPCR showing basal relative expression of genes related to SARS-CoV-2 entry in uninfected Sub AD and Vis AD cells. One-way ANOVA was applied in order to detect the effect of anatomical origin on c ACE2 (P < 0.0001), d NRP1 (P < 0.0001), and e TMPRSS2 (P > 0.05) expression. Tukey’s multiple comparison test was applied to detect differences between the groups. Significant differences are depicted in letters: b, P < 0.01 vs. Sub AD; d, P < 0.01 vs. Vis AD; e, P < 0.0001 vs. Vero. Data represent the mean ± SEM of experiments performed using three independent pools of cells from two to three donors. Vero cells were used as a reference. Different donors are distinguished by circles, squares, and triangles, while independent pools of cells from the same donor (or Vero) are marked by the same symbol. Source data are provided as a Source Data file. The experiments were repeated once with similar results, with the exception of c–e, which were not repeated; although the calculated interassay variability was low, the controls worked as expected, and the biological and technical variability was accounted for in the analysis; moreover, the main findings were corroborated by a, b using other approaches.