Abstract
BACKGROUND: When poly-p-dioxanone (PDO) thread is implanted subcutaneously, in addition to collagen hyperplasia, it can also cause denaturation of surrounding adipocytes and reduce the thickness of the fat layer. Hitherto, no studies have thoroughly investigated the effects of PDO thread on adipose tissue. OBJECTIVES: In this study, the effect of PDO thread on adipose tissue was investigated in an animal model. METHODS: In the current study, PDO thread was implanted into subcutaneous adipose tissue of the back in a miniature pig. Implantation site tissue and control site tissue were taken 12 weeks after implantation for hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining and transcriptome sequencing. Gene ontology functional enrichment analysis and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway analysis were performed to investigate the differential gene expression between PDO thread implantation and control site tissue. RESULTS: An obvious decrease in the number, fusion, and denaturation of adipocytes can be seen by H&E staining. Sequencing analysis results showed that many of the genes identified, which were downregulated after PDO thread implantation, were involved in functions and pathways related to lipid metabolism, such as fatty acid metabolism, fatty acid degradation, and lipid cell lipolysis regulation. Some genes related to fatty acid metabolism were significantly downregulated in the PDO tissue at 12 weeks compared to the control tissue. CONCLUSIONS: Our results showed PDO thread implantation can cause a decrease in the number of adipocytes, as well as a significant alteration of the expression levels of some genes involved in lipid metabolism-related pathways. PDO thread might play an important role in promoting lipolysis.