Journal Article

SARS-CoV-2 infection induces persistent adipose tissue damage in aged golden Syrian hamsters

Pinet, Florence, Eberlé, Delphine, Barthelemy, Johanna, Duterque-Coquillaud, Martine, Sencio, Valentin, Brito-Rodrigues, Patricia, Bogard, Gemma, Flourens, Anne, Séron, Karin, Hantute-Ghesquier, Aline, Robil, Cyril, Trottein, François, Wolowczuk, Isabelle

2023

Overview

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)) is primarily a respiratory illness. However, various extrapulmonary manifestations have been reported in patients with severe forms of COVID-19. Notably, SARS-CoV-2 was shown to directly trigger white adipose tissue (WAT) dysfunction, which in turn drives insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, and other adverse outcomes in patients with COVID-19. Although advanced age is the greatest risk factor for COVID-19 severity, published data on the impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection on WAT in aged individuals are scarce. Here, we characterized the response of subcutaneous and visceral WAT depots to SARS-CoV-2 infection in young adult and aged golden hamsters. In both age groups, infection was associated with a decrease in adipocyte size in the two WAT depots; this effect was partly due to changes in tissue’s lipid metabolism and persisted for longer in aged hamsters than in young-adult hamsters. In contrast, only the subcutaneous WAT depot contained crown-like structures (CLSs) in which dead adipocytes were surrounded by SARS-CoV-2-infected macrophages, some of them forming syncytial multinucleated cells. Importantly, older age predisposed to a unique manifestation of viral disease in the subcutaneous WAT depot during SARS-CoV-2 infection; the persistence of very large CLSs was indicative of an age-associated defect in the clearance of dead adipocytes by macrophages. Moreover, we uncovered age-related differences in plasma lipid profiles during SARS-CoV-2 infection. These data suggest that the WAT’s abnormal response to SARS-CoV-2 infection may contribute to the greater severity of COVID-19 observed in elderly patients.

• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group UK,Springer Nature B.V,Nature Publishing Group
• Subject: 13 / 13/51 / 38 / 45/77 / 631/443/7 / 692/420/254 / Adipocytes / Adipose tissue / Adipose Tissue, White - pathology / Age / Animals / Antibodies / Biochemistry / Biomedical and Life Sciences / Body fat / Cell Biology / Cell Culture / Coronaviruses / COVID-19 / COVID-19 - pathology / Cricetinae / Disease Models, Animal / Dyslipidemia / Immunology / Infections / Insulin / Insulin resistance / Life Sciences / Lipid metabolism / Macrophages / Mesocricetus / Risk factors / SARS-CoV-2 / Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 / Viral diseases