How is adipose tissue vascular reactivity impacted by obesity? Editor in Chief Irving H. Zucker (University of Nebraska Medical Center) interviews lead author Lisa Lesniewski (University of Utah) and content expert Camilla Wenceslau (University of Toledo) about this central question in the new study by Hazra et al. To explore the differential activity of feed arteries from both white and brown adipose tissue to important vasoconstrictors, Lesniewski and co-authors used a pressure myography system to examine vasoreactivity in excised feed arteries from normal and high-fat diet fed mice. Despite greater non-receptor mediated vasoconstriction in arteries from brown adipose tissue, the authors did not find an increase in receptor mediated vasoconstriction in brown adipose tissue compared to white adipose tissue. In general, Lesniewski and colleagues found that a high-fat diet lowered reactivity to the receptor-mediated agonists. Could stimulating blood flow in the vasculature of brown adipose tissue have clinical implications for fighting the obesity epidemic? Listen and learn more.

 

Sugata Hazra, Grant D. Henson, R. Colton Bramwell, Anthony J. Donato, and Lisa A. Lesniewski Impact of high-fat diet on vasoconstrictor reactivity of white and brown adipose tissue resistance arteries Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol, published February 12, 2019. DOI: 10.1152/ajpheart.00278.2018