Potential impact of mature adipocyte dedifferentiation in terms of cell numbers.

Mature adipocytes possess the capability to dedifferentiate and form proliferative-competent progeny cells. Little is currently known about the daughter cells, or the impact of such in vitro physiology in an in vivo situation, and the daughter cells may actually represent cells with stem-like cell potential. The present paper introduces implications of and impact of this physiology in terms of animal adiposity and composition.