Human subcutaneous and visceral adipocyte atlases uncover classical and specialized adipocytes and depot-specific patterns

Abstract

Human adipose depots are functionally distinct. Yet, recent single-nucleus RNA-sequencing (snRNA-seq) analyses largely uncovered overlapping/similar cell-type landscapes. We hypothesized that adipocytes subtypes, differentiation trajectories, and/or intercellular communication patterns could illuminate this depot similarity-difference gap. For this, we performed snRNA-seq of human subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue. Whereas the majority of adipocytes in both depots were classical, namely enriched in lipid metabolism pathways, we also observed specialized adipocyte subtypes that were enriched in immune-related, extracellular matrix deposition (fibrosis), vascularization/angiogenesis, or ribosomal processes. Pseudo-temporal analysis suggested a developmental trajectory from adipose progenitor cells to classical adipocytes via specialized adipocytes, suggesting that the classical state stems from loss, rather than gain, of specialized functions. Lastly, intercellular communication routes were consistent with the different inflammatory tone of the two depots. Jointly, these findings provide a high-resolution view into the contribution of cellular composition, differentiation, and intercellular communication patterns to human fat depot differences.