| First Author | Giordano A | Year | 2017 |
| Journal | J Cell Physiol | Volume | 232 |
| Issue | 11 | Pages | 2923-2928 |
| PubMed ID | 28191637 | Mgi Jnum | J:270968 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:6193568 | Doi | 10.1002/jcp.25858 |
| Citation | Giordano A, et al. (2017) Mammary alveolar epithelial cells convert to brown adipocytes in post-lactating mice. J Cell Physiol 232(11):2923-2928 |
| abstractText | During pregnancy and lactation, subcutaneous white adipocytes in the mouse mammary gland transdifferentiate reversibly to milk-secreting epithelial cells. In this study, we demonstrate by transmission electron microscopy that in the post-lactating mammary gland interscapular multilocular adipocytes found close to the mammary alveoli contain milk protein granules. Use of the Cre-loxP recombination system allowed showing that the involuting mammary gland of whey acidic protein-Cre/R26R mice, whose secretory alveolar cells express the lacZ gene during pregnancy, contains some X-Gal-stained and uncoupling protein 1-positive interscapular multilocular adipocytes. These data suggest that during mammary gland involution some milk-secreting epithelial cells in the anterior subcutaneous depot may transdifferentiate to brown adipocytes, highlighting a hitherto unappreciated feature of mouse adipose organ plasticity. |
