The Vicious Cycle of Estrogen Consumption and Obesity: The Role of Mechanotransduction - The Mechanobiology of Obesity and Related Diseases - page 86

The Vicious Cycle of Estrogen
Consumption and Obesity: The Role
of Mechanotransduction
Naama Shoham, Natan T. Shaked, Dafna Benayahu and Amit Gefen
Abstract This chapter links mechanotransduction phenomena in adipocytes and
estrogen function, and suggests a possible mechanism involved in the regulation of
fat tissue mass and the onset and progression of obesity. The development, structure
and distribution of the white adipose tissues in obesity is reviewed, and so are
estrogen production and consumption processes and their potential roles in fat
tissue development. We further present mechanotransduction phenomena in adi-
pose cells and tissues, as well as up-to-date literature focusing on mechanical
properties of adipose cells and tissues. The novel perspectives in this chapter
regarding structure-function relationships in adipose tissues point to a positive
feedback loop in which cell and tissue mechanics and estrogen activity play
complementary roles, and which ultimately leads to increased fat mass and obesity.
1 Introduction
In this chapter we present recent evidence that links estrogen and adipose tissue
function from a biomechanical point of view—which depicts the possible role of
mechanotransduction and its interaction with the endocrine system in the devel-
opment of obesity. The new view in this chapter combines the knowledge that
adipogenesis and estrogen production are both mechanosensitive processes [ 26 , 65 ],
and describes how these processes could influence each other. We focus on white
adipose tissue (WAT), the major adipose tissue in postnatal life since the build-up