Obesity and anticontractile effects of adipose tissue in the regulation of aortic tone

Obesity is one of the major risk factors for the development of cardiovascular diseases, which currently account for a significant proportion of the total number of pathologies and are one of the main causes of mortality. At the same time, the mechanisms leading to the occurrence of pathophysiological processes in obesity are poorly studied, and the study of the direct influence of perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT) on vascular contractile activity has only recently begun. In this regard, the present study was undertaken to investigate the contractile activity of the rat aorta in normals and in diet-induced metabolic disorders. The work was carried out at the Laboratory of Physiology of Circulatory and Lymphatic Systems of Pavlov Institute of Physiology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The modelling of obesity in rats was carried out using a cafeteria diet, and the analysis of contractile activity parameters was carried out using the results of wire myography of isolated vessels. It was found that obesity results in the loss of the anticontractile effect of perivascular adipose tissue on the aortic smooth muscle preventing the development of increased vasoconstriction in normals. Identifying the existing cause-effect relationships between adipose tissue and the state of the vessel wall, which determines the adequate blood supply to the tissues, may provide the basis for new approaches to solving the problem of developing ways to reduce the negative effects of obesity.

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