Fibrosis as a Cause or a Consequence of White Adipose Tissue Inflammation in Obesity

Obesity is defined as an excess accumulation of white adipose tissue associated with a low grade inflammation which is one contributor to obesity complications such as diabetes. Recently, we and others have demonstrated fibrotic depots in white adipose tissue of obese subjects. Fibrosis is characterized by an excessive accumulation of extracellular matrix components which could result in tissue dysfunction. Extracellular matrix is a fibrillar network composed of structural (collagens) and adhesion (fibronectin) proteins crucial for tissue architecture and biological pathway Histol Histopathol 27:1515–1528, 2012. In this review, we aim to describe two hypotheses trying to explain the sequence of events linking fibrosis, inflammation and obesity complications. In the first one, local adipose tissue hypoxia could induce fibrosis accumulation which in turn through adipocyte dysfunctions might provoke adipose tissue inflammation. In the second one, fibrosis could be a result of local adipose tissue inflammation induced by tissue expansion.