Regulation of porcine adipogenesis in vitro, as compared with other species

In vitro studies, mostly performed on murine cell lines, allowed us to identify the role played by hormonal agents, second-messenger pathways, extracellular matrix proteins, and transcription factors in adipose conversion. Some information has also been reported when studies were conducted on primary cultures that originated from various species. However, because of conflicting results, probably caused, at least in part, by species specificity, developing cultures of preadipose cells from economically important species appeared necessary to better understand and control the animals' fat development. We reviewed our current knowledge concerning the regulation of cultured porcine preadipose cells by hormones, second-messenger pathways, and extracellular matrix proteins. The results clearly demonstrate that such primary cultures are essential to avoid the establishment of hazardous concepts originated from rodent and aneuploid cell lines in particular. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.