Vasculature-associated fat macrophages readily adapt to inflammatory and metabolic challenges

We show that the epididymal white adipose tissue harbors 4 subpopulations of macrophages (VAM1, VAM2, PreVAM and DPs), 2 subpopulations of Dendritic Cells (CD11B+CD103- and CD11B-CD103+) and monocytes. VAMs display a gene signature enriched in pathways related to anti-inflammatory/ detoxifying and repair processes. Our gene expression work shows no evidence of an M2 to a Classically Activated/M1 shift during diet-induced obesity (DIO). Gene expression of VAMs or DP macrophages cannot be defined as M1 or M1-like. Our data are more compatible with the category of "Metabolically-activated" macrophages (MMe) Examination of RNA expression changes in different epididymal adipose tissue myeloid subpopulations in lean versus obese animals harboring metabolic syndrome本研究针对携带代谢综合征的瘦型与肥胖动物的附睾白色脂肪组织（epididymal white adipose tissue）中不同髓系亚群的RNA表达变化开展分析，结果显示：该组织中存在4类巨噬细胞（macrophages）亚群，即VAM1、VAM2、PreVAM与DPs，另有2类树突状细胞（Dendritic Cells）亚群（CD11B+CD103- 与 CD11B-CD103+）以及单核细胞。VAMs的基因特征谱富集于抗炎、解毒及修复相关通路。本研究的基因表达分析未发现饮食诱导肥胖（diet-induced obesity, DIO）模型中存在M2型巨噬细胞向经典活化型/M1型巨噬细胞转化的相关证据。VAMs或DP巨噬细胞的基因表达特征无法被归类为M1型或类M1型，本研究数据更支持“代谢活化型巨噬细胞（Metabolically-activated macrophages, MMe）”这一分类范畴。