Adenosine regulates blood flow and glucose uptake in adipose tissue of dogs

Intravenous norepinephrine increases glycerol release and blood flow in adipose tissue. The vasodilation may be an indirect effect of norepinephrine through the production of adenosine. Adenosine increases glucose uptake and inhibits lipolysis in vitro. To test whether adenosine regulates blood flow and/or metabolism in vivo, adenosine deaminase (ADA) was infused intra-arterially into the inguinal fat pads of anesthetized dogs. In unstimulated tissues, ADA (n = 7) significantly increased vascular resistance and significantly decreased glucose uptake compared with the effects of a control (boiled deaminase, n = 6) infusion. ADA completely blocked the norepinephrine-induced vasodilation (n = 6). No potentiation of basal or catecholamine-stimulated lipolysis was observed with ADA. The presence of ADA in the interstitial space was verified by analysis of lymph effluents. Interstitial levels of ADA were inversely correlated with the tissue contents of adenosine. These data support the hypothesis that adenosine is a regulator of blood flow in basal and stimulated adipose tissue. Adenosine also appears to regulate glucose uptake, but not lipolysis, in vivo.