The Study
Depot Dependent Effects of Dexamethasone on Gene Expression in Human Omental and Abdominal Subcutaneous Adipose Tissues from Obese Women
This study looked at fat tissue in a dish and saw how it reacted to a medicine called dexamethasone. It found some genes acted differently in belly fat vs. under-the-skin fat, but that doesn’t mean the medicine causes people to gain belly fat — it just shows what might happen in a lab.
Analysis score
Maximum 44 for a cross-sectional study.
Where the score came from
When the body releases stress hormones, belly fat cells change their genes to store more fat, while thigh fat cells don’t change as much.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 544 / 100
Quality score
Snapshots of a population at a single point in time, or descriptions of small groups. Can identify correlations and prevalence, but cannot determine cause and effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Yes — this helps explain why chronic stress leads to more belly fat, which is linked to diabetes and heart disease.
- 2Dexamethasone (a stress hormone mimic) increased fat-storage genes like GPC4 and AGPAT9 2–3 times more in belly fat than thigh fat.
- 3It also suppressed inflammation in both, but belly fat showed stronger gene changes overall.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
PLoS ONE
Year
2016
Authors
R. T. Pickering, Mi-Jeong Lee, K. Karastergiou, A. Gower, S. Fried
Related Content
Claims (6)
In obese women, exposure to the drug dexamethasone for 7 days changes gene activity differently in visceral fat compared to subcutaneous fat, with a small subset of genes responding specifically to the drug dose in each fat depot, including genes related to fat cell formation, fat storage, and inflammation.
Dexamethasone reduces activity in specific inflammatory pathways in fat tissue from obese women, with a stronger reduction in fat around the organs compared to fat under the skin, showing that glucocorticoids have the same anti-inflammatory effect regardless of fat location.
In obese women, the drug dexamethasone increases the activity of specific genes that promote fat storage in visceral fat tissue around the organs more than in under-the-skin fat tissue.
In obese women, the drug dexamethasone lowers the activity of the ITGB8 protein in fat tissue under the skin but not in fat tissue around the organs, indicating that its effect depends on the location of the fat.
Dexamethasone increases DKK2 gene activity in fat under the skin and increases ENPP2 gene activity in fat around the organs, showing that it affects different fat deposits in distinct ways.
Visceral fat has more glucocorticoid receptors than subcutaneous fat.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.