Perivascular Adipose Tissue Becomes Pro-Contractile and Remodels in an IL10−/− Colitis Model of Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Figure 1. PVAT becomes pro-contractile in mesenteric arteries with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Data are mean ± SE for % constrictions to electrical field stimulation (EFS, 1–16 Hz) of cannulated, pressurized mesenteric arteries with (+PVAT) and without (−PVAT) perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT) from Control and IBD mice. PVAT presence reduces electrical field stimulation (EFS)-induced constriction in Control arteries (A,C) but increases constriction in IBD arteries (B,C). n = 4–6 per group, * = p < 0.05 for +PVAT vs. −PVAT (A,B) or Control vs. IBD (C).

Figure 2. IBD cases PVAT adipocyte hyperplasia. (A) Representative imaged of H&E-stained sections of mesenteric artery PVAT from Control (left) and IBD (right) arteries. Scale bar = 100 µm. Quantitative analysis of H&E images showed IBD-associated decreases in mean adipocyte size (B) but an increase in size distribution (C), mean adipocyte density (D) and density distribution (E). n = 71 (Control) or 76 (IBD) images analyzed from 16 PVAT samples each with 4 mice per group. * = p < 0.05 via nested t-test. Total mesenteric PVAT wet weight was not different in IBD vs. Control mice (F).

Figure 3. Macrophages accumulate in mesenteric artery PVAT with IBD. (A) Representative confocal z-projections of PVAT labeled for nuclei (DAPI, blue, left), leukocytes (CD45, red, center) and macrophages (F4/80, magenta, right) from Control (top) and IBD (bottom) mice. Scale bar = 100 µm. (B,C) Data are mean ± SE for percent fluorescent area of CD45 (B) and F4/80 (C). n = 27 images from 4 PVAT samples (Control) or 49 (IBD) images from 8 PVAT samples collected from 4 mice per group. * = p < 0.05 in Control vs. IBD via nested t-test.

Figure 4. Enrichment analysis of differentially expressed genes from cytokine and chemokine PCR arrays. Data are the top transcription factors (A), disease associations (B) and cell type associations (C) based on analysis of PCR array genes with fold changes > 1.5, <0.5 or p < 0.05.