Comparative transcriptome analysis of dedifferentiation in porcine mature adipocytes and follicular granulosa cells

Cellular dedifferentiation signifies the withdrawal of cells from a specific differentiated state into a ‘stem cell’-like undifferentiated state. However, the mechanism of dedifferentiation remains obscure. We showed that mature adipocytes (MA) and follicular granulosa cells (GC), which have distinct functions in vivo, can dedifferentiate during culture in vitro and acquire multipotency. We investigated the dedifferentiation mechanism of MA and GC using global gene expression analyses. Using Affymetrix porcine genome array, we compared global gene expression profiles during dedifferentiation to search for particular biological functions in genes of which expression intensities were increased or decreased by MA and GC dedifferentiation.