Abstract 333: Existence of Functional Norepinephrine Transport in Perivascular Adipose Tissue

Perivascular Tissue (PVAT) is a recent focus of studies for its regulation of blood vessel tone. Contraction to norepinephrine (NE) is reduced by PVAT through mechanisms not entirely clear. Loss of this anti-contractile function of PVAT occurs in obesity-related hypertension. We hypothesized that PVAT can remove NE from the blood vessel environment through transporters and reduce NE induced contraction in health. RT-PCR of mesenteric PVAT was positive for norepinephrine transporter (NET; Ct=33.2±1.4) and serotonin transporter (SERT; Ct=31.9±0.9) relative to beta-2-microglobulin. To study NE uptake in the healthy state, mesenteric and aortic PVAT from the male Sprague Dawley rat was incubated with 10 μM NE after pre-incubation with an inhibitor of transport (10 μM desipramine to inhibit NET and SERT, 100 μM corticosterone to inhibit organic cation transporter 3) or vehicle and quantified by HPLC for NE. Desipramine plus corticosterone inhibited NE uptake in mesenteric PVAT (figure) but desipramine (410.5±80.8 ng/g vs. 414.4±67.0 ng/g NE only; n=8) or corticosterone (225.0±26.1 ng/g vs. 319.2±35.9 ng/g NE only; n=5) alone did not, indicating a robust uptake capacity. In aortic PVAT, NE uptake was not inhibited by desipramine plus corticosterone (figure), desipramine (1763.5±460.8 ng/g vs. 1702.7±298.4 ng/g NE only; n=6), or corticosterone (1085.8±205.3 ng/g vs. 2245.8±506.8 ng/g NE only; n=4). Protein staining revealed bands positive for NET in mesenteric PVAT by Western blot. Taken together, we found that PVAT is a reservoir of NE that can remove NE from the blood vessel environment, an important finding to understand vasculature-PVAT interactions in health and disease.