Link between Adipose Tissue Angiogenesis and Fat Accumulation in Severely Obese Subjects

Background: White adipose tissue (WAT) can rapidly expand or regress under different nutritional conditions. The role of angiogenesis in the expandability of human adipose tissue is established. However, whether sc and omental WAT (scWAT and oWAT) angiogenesis could influence fat distribution and metabolic diseases is not known. Aim: The aim of this study was to analyze whether the capacity of angiogenesis in scWAT and oWAT correlates with fat accumulation and fat loss, fat distribution, adipocyte hypertrophy, and metabolic disorders in obese subjects. Methods: Samples of scWAT and oWAT were obtained during bariatric surgery in 29 obese nondiabetic subjects. Vascular density and inflammatory infiltrate were analyzed by immunohistochemistry, and expression of angiogenic genes was analyzed by quantitative PCR. These parameters were correlated with anthropometric and metabolic parameters. Results: Vascular density of scWAT correlated positively with body mass index, whereas vascular density of the oWAT corre...