Characterization of swine adipose tissue monocytic lineage cells

The incidence of obesity is growing in the United States and other developed countries. Macrophage infiltration into adipose tissue is a key characteristic of human obesity. Swine are increasingly used as biomedical models in obesity research due to physiologic similarities of many systems to those of humans. To examine the similarity of monocytic markers in adipose tissue and to further characterize the pig as a biomedical model with which to study obesity, flow cytometry was performed on stromal vascular cells from adipose tissue biopsies of Yorkshire cross pigs. Adipose tissue stromal vascular cells were 34.2% CD172a + (monocyte) and 26.9% CD203a + (macrophage). The majority of both CD203a + and CD172a + cells were CD163 + (69.8% and 59.0%, respectively) and CD14 + (80.5% and 73.3%, respectively). To determine the effect of mild inflammation on adipose tissue macrophage infiltration, swine were injected intravenously with 50 ng/kg body weight lipopolysaccharide (LPS). LPS injection statistically increased the percentage of both CD203 + and CD172a + cells in adipose tissue at 24 hours after injection. In conclusion, this study utilizes several cell surface markers to characterize the phenotype of monocytic lineage cells in swine adipose tissue and provides valuable data for future studies examining adipose tissue macrophages in obesity. Grant Funding Source : Internal Iowa State University