Research

Energy balance

Increased mitochondrial respiration and biogenesis are prerequisites for the adipogenic differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs); inhibiting mitochondrial function via hypoxia, rotenone, or TFAM knockdown suppresses this differentiation.

This research highlights that cellular energy metabolism is not just a byproduct but a driver of cell identity. For therapeutic applications involving stem cells (like treating obesity or heart disease), ensuring mitochondrial health and function may be as important as the signaling molecules used to direct cell growth. It suggests that metabolic interventions could potentially influence fat cell formation by targeting mitochondrial efficiency.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Taken together, our data demonstrates that increased mitochondrial activity is a prerequisite for MSC differentiation into adipocytes.
Yanmin Zhang et al. · PLoS ONE · 2013

Why this rating

High-quality in vitro mechanistic study using three distinct, concordant methods (pharmacological, environmental, genetic) to establish causality.

Source

Mitochondrial Respiration Regulates Adipogenic Differentiation of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells

Yanmin Zhang et al. · PLoS ONE · 2013

DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0077077

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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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