Research
Hormonal
Macrophage infiltration into adipose tissue is a critical mediator of obesity-induced insulin resistance, and their removal can restore insulin sensitivity.
Chronic inflammation in fat tissue, driven by immune cells called macrophages, is a major cause of insulin resistance. Reducing this inflammation, potentially by shifting macrophages from a pro-inflammatory (M1) to an anti-inflammatory (M2) state, could improve metabolic health.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Such conditional ablation resulted in a profound reduction of proinflammatory ATM accumulation, accompanied by rapid whole-body normalization of insulin sensitivity.
Why this rating
Supported by conditional cell-ablation studies in mice showing reversal of insulin resistance.
Source
Adipose tissue remodeling and obesity
Kai Sun et al. · Journal of Clinical Investigation · 2011
DOI 10.1172/jci45887
narrative_reviewCited 1,878×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Pathological adipose tissue expansion driven by adipocyte hypertrophy leads to local hypoxia, which triggers a fibrotic response and chronic inflammation, ultimately resulting in systemic insulin resistance.Good
- Acute weight loss or fasting triggers a transient, physiological influx of macrophages into adipose tissue to clear lipid droplets from dead adipocytes, which is a healthy adaptive response distinct from chronic pathological inflammation.Moderate
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