脂肪组织是高度可塑性的,主要通过白色脂肪细胞转分化为米色脂肪细胞来说明,取决于环境条件。然而,在啮齿动物的妊娠和哺乳期,皮下脂肪组织转化为乳腺组织的惊人现象,被称为粉红色脂肪组织,能够合成和分泌牛奶。最近使用转基因谱系追踪实验的工作,主要在SaverioCinti的团队中进行,非常令人信服地证明,该过程确实对应于妊娠和哺乳期间白色脂肪细胞向乳腺肺泡细胞(粉红色脂肪细胞)的转分化。这种现象是可逆的,因为在哺乳后阶段,粉红色脂肪细胞恢复为白色脂肪细胞表型。这种可逆转分化的分子机制仍然知之甚少。
Adipose tissue is highly plastic, as illustrated mainly by the transdifferentiation of white adipocytes into beige adipocytes, depending on environmental conditions. However, during gestation and lactation in rodent, there is an amazing phenomenon of transformation of subcutaneous adipose tissue into mammary glandular tissue, known as pink adipose tissue, capable of synthesizing and secreting milk. Recent work using transgenic lineage-tracing experiments, mainly carried out in Saverio Cinti\'s team, has demonstrated very convincingly that this process does indeed correspond to a transdifferentiation of white adipocytes into mammary alveolar cells (pink adipocytes) during gestation and lactation. This phenomenon is reversible, since during the post-lactation phase, pink adipocytes revert to the white adipocyte phenotype. The molecular mechanisms underlying this reversible transdifferentiation remain poorly understood.