Cross-talks between perivascular adipose tissue and neighbors: multifaceted nature of nereids

Abstract

Perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT) is a unique fat depot surrounding blood vessels and plays a vital role in the progression of vascular remodeling and dysfunction. PVAT exhibits remarkable differences in structure, phenotype, origin, and secretome across anatomical locations. The proximity of PVAT to neighboring vascular beds favors a niche for bidirectional communication between adipocytes and vascular smooth muscle cells, endothelial cells, and immune cells. In this review, we update our understanding of PVAT's regional differences and provide a comprehensive exploration of how these differences impact cross-talks between PVAT and the vascular wall. Different PVAT depots show different degrees of vasoprotective function and resilience to pathological changes such as obesity and vasculopathies, shaping multifaceted interactions between PVAT depots and adjacent vasculatures. The depot-specific resilience may lead to innovative strategies to manage cardiometabolic disorders.

Keywords: cardiovascular disease; intercellular communication; obesity; perivascular adipose tissue; secretome.

FIGURE 1

Intercellular communications between PVAT depots and blood vessels under pathological conditions. (A) Cross-talks between tPVAT, aPVAT, mPVAT and their nearby blood vessels in rodents. tPVAT exerts great resistance to obesity without obvious infiltration of immune cells. In contrast, aPVAT and mPVAT exhibit hypertrophic and dysfunctional adipocytes, local inflammation, and heightened oxidative stress in the development of cardiometabolic disorders. (B) Cross-talks between human cPVAT and the coronary artery in coronary artery diseases. Inflamed cPVAT contributes to the progression of atherosclerosis in the coronary artery. (created with BioRender.com). Abbreviations: Angptl2, angiopoietin-like protein 2; Ang Ⅱ, Angiotensin Ⅱ; FABP4, fatty acid-binding protein 4; "ICAM-1, Intercellular adhesion molecule 1; IFN-γ, Interferon-γ; IL, Interleukin; MCP-1 (CCL2), Monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (C-C motif chemokine ligand 2); PDGF-D, platelet derived growth factor-D; RANTES (CCL5), Regulated upon activation, normal T cell expressed and presumably secreted (C-C motif chemokine ligand 5); TNF-α, Tumor necrosis factor-α; PVAT, perivascular adipose tissue; tPVAT, thoracic aortic PVAT; aPVAT, abdominal aortic PVAT; mPVAT, mesenteric PVAT; cPVAT, coronary PVAT; VSMC, vascular smooth muscle cell; EC, endothelial cell.