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Epicardial adipose tissue expression of adiponectin is lower in patients with hypertension

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 22, pages 856–863 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

Low plasma adiponectin levels are related to a higher risk of development of metabolic and cardiovascular disorders, including hypertension (HT). To date, there have been no studies supporting the relationship between epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) expression of adiponectin and HT. We collected samples of EAT from 116 patients undergoing elective cardiac surgery, mostly for coronary artery bypass grafting (n=54), valve surgery (n=49) or both (n=12). Samples of subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) were harvested from 85 patients. After RNA isolation, the expression of adiponectin was analysed by real-time retrotranscriptase (RT)-PCR. Baseline clinical data were obtained from medical records. The diagnosis of HT was established mostly by the patients’ general physicians following current guidelines. We included 84 hypertensive and 32 non-hypertensive patients. Mean (±s.d.) age was 70.3±7.9 years. EAT expression levels of adiponectin were lower in hypertensives (14.0±3.6 vs 15.3±3.6 arbitrary units (a.u.), P=0.06). This difference was statistically significant (odds ratio (OR) 0.828 per a.u., P=0.020) after adjustment for age, gender, body mass index, diabetes mellitus, heart failure, coronary artery disease (CAD), total cholesterol and triglyceride levels. However, SAT adiponectin mRNA levels were similar in hypertensive and non-hypertensive patients (15.3±4.2 vs 15.3±5.0 a.u., P>0.99). Adjustment for potential confounding factors hardly altered this result. Our findings indicate that EAT expression of adiponectin may be associated with HT status independently of CAD or other comorbidities, whereas SAT expression does not. These results support the hypothesis that EAT is actively implicated in global cardiovascular risk, describing its association with HT.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by Hospital Clínico Universitario de Santiago de Compostela (Santiago de Compostela, Spain) and Fundación Mutua Madrileña (Madrid, Spain). Sonia Eiras is a researcher within the Isidro Parga Pondal Program (Xunta de Galicia). We would also like to thank the staff of the Department of Heart Surgery of the Hospital Clínico de Santiago de Compostela for their kind contribution to this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cardiology, Hospital Clínico Universitario, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

    E Teijeira-Fernandez, L Grigorian-Shamagian & J R Gonzalez-Juanatey

  2. Department of Cardiology, Unit of Cellular and Molecular Research on Cardiology, Hospital Clínico Universitario, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

    S Eiras & J R Gonzalez-Juanatey

  3. Department of Heart Surgery, Hospital Clínico Universitario, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

    A Fernandez & B Adrio

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  1. E Teijeira-Fernandez
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Correspondence to E Teijeira-Fernandez.

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Teijeira-Fernandez, E., Eiras, S., Grigorian-Shamagian, L. et al. Epicardial adipose tissue expression of adiponectin is lower in patients with hypertension. J Hum Hypertens 22, 856–863 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/jhh.2008.75

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