Human visceral and subcutaneous adipose stem and progenitor cells retain depot-specific adipogenic properties during obesity.

Abdominal obesity associates with cardiometabolic disease and an accumulation of lipids in the visceral adipose depot, whereas lipid accumulation in the subcutaneous depot is more benign. We aimed to further investigate whether the adipogenic properties where cell-intrinsic, or dependent on a depot-specific or obesity-produced microenvironment. We obtained visceral and subcutaneous biopsies from non-obese women ( = 14) or women living with morbid obesity ( = 14) and isolated adipose stem and progenitor cells (ASPCs) from the stromal vascular fraction of non-obese ( = 13) and obese ( = 13).