Fat Cells Travel to Heal Wounds in Flies

Previously considered immobile, these cells swoop in to seal epithelial holes and clean up cellular detritus.

kerry grens
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Necrotic cells (bright red nuclei), are swept to the wound periphery by incoming fat body cells (green) in Drosophila.FRANZ ET AL., DEVELOPMENTAL CELL

Scientists have thought of fat cells as being fixed in place, but live imaging of these cells in Drosophila shows that they can in fact move—and after an injury, they will wiggle over to the wound and help clear it up. In Developmental Cell yesterday (February 26), researchers reveal fat cells cooperating with immune cells to remove cellular material, releasing antimicrobial compounds, and closing up a wound in epithelia.

“It’s like a cleaner, sweeping the stuff to the side,” coauthor Paul Martin of the University of Bristol tells The New York Times. “Then, the immune cells are all hanging out at the edge clearing the debris. So it’s a collaborative effort.”

The discovery began when coauthor Anna Franz of the University of Bristol was watching ...

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  • kerry grens

    Kerry Grens

    Kerry served as The Scientist’s news director until 2021. Before joining The Scientist in 2013, she was a stringer for Reuters Health, the senior health and science reporter at WHYY in Philadelphia, and the health and science reporter at New Hampshire Public Radio. Kerry got her start in journalism as a AAAS Mass Media fellow at KUNC in Colorado. She has a master’s in biological sciences from Stanford University and a biology degree from Loyola University Chicago.

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