The establishment of the ob 17 preadipocyte clonal line provides a useful in vitro model for studying the growth and differentiation of adipose cells from genetically obese mice.
A clonal cell line that responds to insulin and to lipolytic hormones has been established from the epididymal fat pad of the C57BL/6J ob/ob mouse. This line, designated ob 17, has a doubling time of 12.5 or 19 hr in 10% or 1% fetal calf serum, respectively. It presents a heterogeneous chromosome number with 40% of the cells containing 35-44 chromosomes and expresses the characteristic H2-LA antigen. After cessation of growth, ob 17 cells accumulate droplets of triglycerides; this accumulation occurs to a significant extent even in the absence of insulin normally added after confluence. Lipoprotein lipase activity is negligible in exponentially growing cells but appears at its maximal level just after confluence with or without insulin. Acid:CoA ligase and acylCoA:diglyceride acyltransferase develop later than lipoprotein lipase. The appearance of lipolytic and lipogenic enzymes, but not of triglycerides, seems to be independent of the presence of lipoproteins or of unesterified fatty acids in the culture medium. Therefore, the differentiation program becomes operative when growth is arrested, and differentiation occurs, providing a source of exogenous lipids. Differentiated ob 17 cells in which endogenous triglycerides have been prelabeled on the fatty acid moiety do respond to epinephrine and corticotropin by release of radioactive fatty acid. This lipolytic response is counteracted by prior addition of insulin. The ob 17 cell line appears to be a useful model for study of growth and differentiation of adipose cells as compared to preadipocyte cell lines from the nongenetically obese mouse.
Négrel et al. (1978) studied this question.