title: A stem cell-based tool for small molecule screening in adipogenesis.
abstract: Techniques for small molecule screening are widely used in biological mechanism study and drug discovery. Here, we reported a novel adipocyte differentiation assay for small molecule selection, based on human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) transduced with fluorescence reporter gene driven by adipogenic specific promoter--adipocyte Protein 2 (aP2; also namely Fatty Acid Binding Protein 4, FABP4). During normal adipogenic induction as well as adipogenic inhibition by Ly294002, we confirmed that the intensity of green fluorescence protein corresponded well to the expression level of aP2 gene. Furthermore, this variation of green fluorescence protein intensity can be read simply through fluorescence spectrophotometer. By testing another two small molecules in adipogenesis--Troglitazone and CHIR99021, we proved that this is a simple and sensitive method, which could be applied in adipocyte biology, drug discovery and toxicological study in the future.
authors.affiliation: Center for Stem Cell Biology and Tissue Engineering, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.forename: Wei-Qiang
authors.initials: WQ
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Wen-Hua
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Frank Fuxiang
authors.initials: FF
authors.lastname: Mao
authors.forename: Xiu-Ming
authors.initials: XM
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Bruce T
authors.initials: BT
authors.lastname: Lahn
authors.forename: Wei-Hua
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Andy Peng
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Xiang
mesh_terms: D017667:Adipocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D050156:Adipogenesis / Q000187:drug effects*; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000187:drug effects; D004353:Drug Evaluation, Preclinical / Q000379:methods*; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D059630:Mesenchymal Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins