Adipose Tissue Inflammation in Individuals Undergoing Bariatric Surgery

A growing body of work done over the past few decades has established that adipose tissue as an active endocrine organ which secretes a wide range of metabolic and immunological factors collectively called "adipokines (1)." Importantly, these secreted factors enter into the circulation and have paracrine and autocrine actions, which profoundly impact systemic metabolism (e.g., insulin sensitivity). Additionally, in animals, loss of ovarian hormone production via ovariectomy (similar to menopause in humans) leads to increases in both in adipose tissue mass and in adipose tissue inflammation (2) making this tissue less healthy than that from premenopausal animals. To date, no studies have investigated the effect of menopause on abdominal fat in overweight individuals. Knowing if adipose tissue-specific changes occur with menopause may potentially lead to recommendations or therapeutics to improve women's health post menopause.