# IN UTERO REGULATION OF ADIPOSE TISSUE DEVELOPMENT

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA · 1994 · $147,508

## Abstract

Obesity is a serious health risk.  The seven leading causes of death in
the U.S. accounting for 80% of all mortality are incontrovertibly
associated with obesity.  The difficulty seen in treatment of obesity may
lie in the lack of under-standing of the basic mechanisms of adipose cell
development.  The information regarding the hormonal and
paracrine/autocrine regulation of adipose cell differentiation is
incomplete.  In vivo, adipose cells develop in concert with other cell
types to form mature adipose tissue.  The stromal-vascular model used
here morphologically and biochemically mimics in utero adipose tissue
development.  Part of this success may be linked to the potential for
local control through paracrine and autocrine factors from the different
cell proposed research.  These advances include the development of
monoclonal antibodies against cell surface and cytometric antigens
expressed during porcine adipocyte differentiation and the adaption of
flow cytometric procedures to quantify lipid free preadipocytes and the
associated expression of a developmentally regulated cell surface
antigens.  The obese pig has a size advantage over other animal models.
We have  utilized a line of pigs which have been genetically selected to
have over two times as much body fat as contemporary pigs.  When extreme
differences exist between experimental and control subjects, it permits
easier identification of the regulatory events which are important for
in vivo development of adipose cells.  The specific aims of this proposal
are to identify the function and mode of action of primary endocrine
factors in prenatal adipose tissue development, using the fetal pig as
an animal model.  The first series of experiments will test the
hypothesis that primary endocrine regulation is multifaceted, i.e.,
involving preadipocyte and adipocyte differentiation and vascular
development, and that this regulation is mediated locally via soluble and
insoluble factors.  The approach used includes quantitative and
qualitative analysis of preadipocytes in stromal-vascular (S-V) cultures
derived from hormone treated hypophysectomized (hypoxed) pig fetuses.
These experiments will address the following questions: Which hormone or
combination will restore the hypox-induced deficit in preadipocyte (S-V)
development? and What paracrine/autocrine factor(s) would be associated
with normalization of preadipocyte development?  Another facet of these
studies is the qualitative evaluation of paracrine/autocrine factors in
vivo will be correlated with cellular and metabolic changes induced with
the various hormone treatments.  These studies will provide the first
definitive and physiologically relevant understanding of major endocrine
factors in prenatal adipose tissue development.  The second series of
experiments will test the hypothesis that several traits or "markers" of
pre-obese pig fetuses are indeed genetically linked to an altered profile
of primary endocrine factors.  To test this h...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 2197663
- **Project number:** 2R01HD018447-10A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA
- **SAM.gov UEI:** NMJHD63STRC5
- **Principal Investigator:** Roy Joseph Martin
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1994
- **Award amount:** $147,508
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 1984-08-01 → 1998-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/2197663

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 2197663, IN UTERO REGULATION OF ADIPOSE TISSUE DEVELOPMENT (2R01HD018447-10A1). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/2197663. Licensed CC0.

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