Research

Hormonal

Wnt/β-catenin signaling exerts depot-specific effects on white adipose tissue (WAT), where its activation in adipose precursor cells (APs) promotes proliferation (hyperplasia) in visceral WAT (vWAT) under high-fat diet conditions, while its role in subcutaneous WAT (sWAT) involves promoting differentiation and hypertrophy of mature adipocytes.

Fat storage is not uniform across the body. The Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway regulates how fat cells grow differently in visceral (abdominal) versus subcutaneous (under skin) areas. High-fat diets trigger this pathway to increase the number of fat cells in the visceral area, which is more metabolically harmful. This explains why visceral fat accumulation is a key risk factor for metabolic diseases.

ModerateQualifiesMEDIUM confidence
we highlight the regulation of updated Wnt/β-catenin signaling in obesity, especially the distinctly depot-specific roles between subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue under high-fed diet stimulation
Na Chen et al. · Frontiers in Physiology · 2018

Why this rating

Based on review of multiple studies including mouse models and human genetic associations.

Source

Wnt/β-Catenin Signaling and Obesity

Na Chen et al. · Frontiers in Physiology · 2018

DOI 10.3389/fphys.2018.00792

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

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