A single centrifugation method for isolating fat droplets from cells and tissues

Abstract

Fat droplets (FDs) have important roles in cellular energy regulation. Isolating FDs from either cells or tissue continues to be important for studying these organelles. Here, we describe a procedure wherein whole homogenates of cultured cells or tissue are fractionated with a single centrifugation step in a standard microcentrifuge. This procedure reproducibly yields three fractions highly enriched in either FDs, soluble cellular components, or sedimentable organelles/membranes.

Keywords

• adipose tissue
• fatty acid/metabolism
• lipid droplets
• lipids
• liver
• brown adipose tissue