Aug 31, 2026 04:15 PM
https://www.sciencealert.com/our-fat-tis...ost-weight
INTRO: As scientists look for ways to tackle the global obesity crisis, research has established that once the obesity stage is reached, it can be very difficult for many people to find weight loss methods that work long-term.
What's not as clear is exactly why, though it seems obesity leaves some kind of imprint on our bodies that persists even if we start losing weight. A study published earlier this year showed one way that our immune cells carry 'memories' of obesity around with them.
Now a new study published in Science Translational Medicine describes a separate impact that obesity has on a different set of immune cells, located right inside fat tissue – and apparently leading to permanent biological changes that directly interfere with fat loss.
The study researchers, from institutions across Japan, analyzed adipose tissue macrophages (ATMs) in mice. These ATMs are the most abundant immune cells in fat tissue, charged with managing fat levels and inflammation, fighting infection, and clearing away dead and damaged cells – a process called efferocytosis (which we'll come back to).
During experiments on mice bred to gain and then lose weight, the study team found permanent changes in the ATM cells of the animals relating to mRNA splicing, the editing process that controls how genetic instructions are compiled to make proteins.
"These findings suggest that the alternative splicing landscape can be retained in macrophages as an 'obesity memory', shaping their phenotypic outcomes," write the researchers in their published paper... (MORE - details)
INTRO: As scientists look for ways to tackle the global obesity crisis, research has established that once the obesity stage is reached, it can be very difficult for many people to find weight loss methods that work long-term.
What's not as clear is exactly why, though it seems obesity leaves some kind of imprint on our bodies that persists even if we start losing weight. A study published earlier this year showed one way that our immune cells carry 'memories' of obesity around with them.
Now a new study published in Science Translational Medicine describes a separate impact that obesity has on a different set of immune cells, located right inside fat tissue – and apparently leading to permanent biological changes that directly interfere with fat loss.
The study researchers, from institutions across Japan, analyzed adipose tissue macrophages (ATMs) in mice. These ATMs are the most abundant immune cells in fat tissue, charged with managing fat levels and inflammation, fighting infection, and clearing away dead and damaged cells – a process called efferocytosis (which we'll come back to).
During experiments on mice bred to gain and then lose weight, the study team found permanent changes in the ATM cells of the animals relating to mRNA splicing, the editing process that controls how genetic instructions are compiled to make proteins.
"These findings suggest that the alternative splicing landscape can be retained in macrophages as an 'obesity memory', shaping their phenotypic outcomes," write the researchers in their published paper... (MORE - details)