Isolation and Differentiation of Murine Primary Brown/Beige Preadipocytes

Studies on thermogenic adipose cells (brown and beige fat) hold promise to treat obesity and its associated metabolic disorders due to the ability of these cells to dissipate energy in the form of heat. Although immortalized adipose cell lines have been widely used to investigate cell autonomous regulations, many physiological functions of thermogenic fat need to be studied with primary fat cells. Here, we present a detailed protocol of the isolation, culture, and differentiation of primary brown and beige preadipocytes from the stromal vascular fraction of murine interscapular and inguinal adipose depots.