Adipose tissue aging as a risk factor for metabolic organ abnormalities: mechanistic insights and the role of exercise interventions

📖 Top 20% JournalSep 2, 2025Lipids in health and disease

How Aging Fat Tissue May Increase Risk of Metabolic Organ Problems and How Exercise Might Help

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Longevity & Aging on OpenScience ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗OA ↗

Abstract

Adipose tissue shows significant changes with aging, affecting various metabolic organs.

Aging is associated with alterations in fat content and redistribution of adipose tissue.
Declines in the function and capacity of adipose progenitor and stem cells are observed with aging.
The accumulation of senescent cells and changes in immune function occur in aging adipose tissue.
Exercise may counteract the impacts of adipose tissue aging by reducing inflammation and improving lipid metabolism.
Enhancements in the browning of white adipose tissue and thermogenic function of brown adipose tissue are linked to exercise.

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Aging is widely regarded as an irreversible arrest of cellular growth and proliferation, often accompanied by systemic metabolic organ abnormalities, ultimately reducing quality of life and increasing mortality in the elderly. Multi-organ transcriptomic analyses suggest that adipose tissue is among the earliest organs to respond to aging, characterized by changes in fat content and redistribution of adipose tissue, decline in thermogenic adipose function, reduced proliferation and differentiation capacity of adipose progenitor and stem cells, accumulation of senescent cells, and . These alterations may act synergistically and play a role in abnormalities in metabolic organs including the cardiovascular, liver, skeletal muscle, and brain. Studies have demonstrated that exercise ameliorates the effects of adipose tissue aging on metabolic organ abnormalities by inhibiting inflammation, reducing the accumulation of ectopic lipids, enhancing the browning of white adipose tissue and thermogenesis in brown adipose tissue, improving lipid metabolism, regulating the secretion of , and mitigating immunosenescence. This review summarizes the main characteristics of adipose tissue aging, the effects of adipose tissue aging on metabolic organ abnormalities, and the potential mechanisms by which exercise ameliorates the effects of adipose tissue aging on metabolic organ abnormalities. It provides theoretical support for basic and clinical research on exercise-based prevention and treatment of aging-related diseases.

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Abstract

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