School of Biomedical Sciences, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR, China.
Institute of Vascular Medicine, Shenzhen Research Institute and Li Ka Shing Institute of Health Sciences, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR, China.
Cardiovasc Drugs Ther. 2018 Oct;32(5):481-502. doi: 10.1007/s10557-018-6820-z.
Perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT) refers to the local aggregate of adipose tissue surrounding the vascular tree, exhibiting phenotypes from white to brown and beige adipocytes. Although PVAT has long been regarded as simply a structural unit providing mechanical support to vasculature, it is now gaining reputation as an integral endocrine/paracrine component, in addition to the well-established modulator endothelium, in regulating vascular tone. Since the discovery of anti-contractile effect of PVAT in 1991, the use of multiple rodent models of reduced amounts of PVAT has revealed its regulatory role in vascular remodeling and cardiovascular implications, including atherosclerosis. PVAT does not only release PVAT-derived relaxing factors (PVRFs) to activate multiple subsets of endothelial and vascular smooth muscle potassium channels and anti-inflammatory signals in the vasculature, but it does also provide an interface for neuron-adipocyte interactions in the vascular wall to regulate arterial vascular tone. In this review, we outline our current understanding towards PVAT and attempt to provide hints about future studies that can sharpen the therapeutic potential of PVAT against cardiovascular diseases and their complications.
血管周脂肪组织（PVAT）是指围绕着血管树的局部聚集的脂肪组织，表现出从白色到棕色和米色脂肪细胞的表型。尽管 PVAT 长期以来一直被认为只是为血管提供机械支持的结构单元，但它现在作为内分泌/旁分泌的一个组成部分而备受关注，除了已经确立的调节内皮细胞的功能外，还在调节血管张力方面发挥作用。自 1991 年发现 PVAT 的抗收缩作用以来，使用多种减少 PVAT 数量的啮齿动物模型揭示了它在血管重塑和心血管影响（包括动脉粥样硬化）中的调节作用。PVAT 不仅释放 PVAT 衍生的舒张因子（PVRFs）来激活血管内皮和血管平滑肌钾通道的多个亚群，并发出抗炎信号，而且还为血管壁中神经元-脂肪细胞相互作用提供了一个接口，以调节动脉血管张力。在这篇综述中，我们概述了我们目前对 PVAT 的理解，并试图提供关于未来研究的提示，这些研究可以提高 PVAT 在治疗心血管疾病及其并发症方面的潜力。
