Obesity is a growing concern worldwide and has reached epidemic proportions in the United States. It is a risk factor in many major chronic diseases that afflict our society, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, and cancer. In recent years, numerous studies have focused on identifying the mechanism of development of obesity, which is a process of either increasing the number of fat cells (fat cell hyperplasia) or enlargement of fat cells with each cell carrying greater amounts of fat (fat cell hypertrophy), or both. The ability to regulate the cell cycle and differentiation of adipocytes are key in the development and physiology of obesity and also in the origin of cancer. Understanding of these processes is critical to a rational approach to the treatment of obesity and cancer. Cayman’s Adipogenesis Assay Kit provides the reagents required for studying the induction and inhibition of adipogenesis in the established 3T3-L1 model, using the adipogenesis induction procedure. This kit can also be used to screen drug candidates involved in adipogenesis. The classic Oil Red O staining for lipid droplets is used in this kit as an indicator of the degree of adipogenesis, and can be quantified with a plate reader after the dye is conveniently extracted from the lipid droplet.
