Paracrine regulation of fat cell formation in bone marrow cultures via adiponectin and prostaglandins.

Adiponectin, an adipocyte-derived hormone, was recently shown to have potential therapeutic applications in diabetes and obesity because of its influence on glucose and lipid metabolism. We found that brown fat in normal human bone marrow contains this protein and used marrow-derived preadipocyte lines and long-term cultures to explore potential roles in hematopoiesis. Recombinant adiponectin blocked fat cell formation in long-term bone marrow cultures and inhibited the differentiation of cloned stromal preadipocytes.