Newly identified cells make fat

To understand where fat comes from, you have to start with a skinny mouse. By using such a creature, and observing the growth of fat after injections of different kinds of immature cells, scientists at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Rockefeller University have discovered an important fat precursor cell that may in time explain how changes in the numbers of fat cells might increase and lead to obesity. The finding, published online in this week's issue of the journal Cell, could also have implications for understanding how fat cells affect conditions such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Read the whole article on Physorg

More from Physorg