Identificação de macrófagos do tecido adiposo em alta resolução

• Grant number: 25/03782-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: May 01, 2025
• End date: December 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Immunology
• Principal Investigator: Pedro Manoel Mendes de Moraes Vieira
• Grantee: Marcelo Rodrigues Berçot
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biologia (IB). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 20/16030-0 - Immunometabolic adaptation of tissue resident macrophages in health and disease, AP.TEM

Abstract

Obesity is an epidemic disease and a major risk factor for cardiometabolic disorders. Different fat depots contribute differently to the pathophysiology of obesity, with visceral fat being harmful and subcutaneous fat often being beneficial. Adipose tissue (AT) contains various types of immune cells, especially macrophages, which play an essential role in tissue maintenance and function. In obesity, macrophages can represent up to 50% of all immune cells in AT, contributing to the chronic inflammatory state characteristic of the disease. However, there is ambiguity in the research on the variations of macrophage subpopulations in different fat depots and how they contribute to the pathophysiology of obesity. Preliminary analysis of single-cell mouse data shows that studies so far lack the depth to clearly classify ATMs into defined subpopulations. Additionally, research has revealed metabolic pathways important for the regulation of macrophage response, which are essential for the development of immune dysfunction and diseases when dysregulated. With the advent of single-cell technology, it is now possible to estimate the metabolic state of immune cells, demonstrating the importance of using single-cell RNA sequencing data to study the metabolism of individual cells and their functions.