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Updated: Jan 17, 2026

Co-staining Blood Vessels and Nerve Fibers in Adipose Tissue
Published on: February 13, 2019
Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide: Another Player in Adipose Tissue Blood Flow Regulation?
Richard Sotorník1, Julie Ménard2, Pascal Brassard1
1Division of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada.
Objectives:
In healthy people, adipose tissue blood flow (ATBF) rises postprandially; however, in one third of them, this response is altered. These people are characterized by prolonged postprandial lipemia and higher cardiometabolic risk. Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) is a gut neurotransmitter with a vasodilatory effect. The aim of the study was to assess the role of VIP in ATBF regulation and its postprandial blunting.
Methods:
Plasma VIP and ATBF (133Xenon washout technique) were measured during a 75 g oral glucose load in 16 healthy participants. ATBF was monitored in 12 individuals during in situ microinfusion of incremental doses of VIP (10-7, 10-6, 10-5 mol L-1).
Results:
Oral glucose induced no change in plasma VIP. Post-glucose ATBF measures identified 7 non-responders (peak blood flow < 50% of fasting values) and 9 responders. Compared to baseline (2.50 [1.96-3.59] mL·100 g-1 min-1), local microinfusion of VIP increased ATBF dose-dependently: 2.67 [2.18-3.89]; 4.35 [3.33-4.65]; and 7.91 [6.59-9.88] mL·100 g-1 min-1 (p < 0.0001) with a non-significant lower response to VIP in non-responders.
Conclusions:
Our findings show a potent vasodilatory effect of VIP in adipose tissue and suggest that individuals with a blunted ATBF response to glucose load have a lower response. Whether the local unresponsiveness to VIP participates in this non-responder status has to be confirmed in larger studies.
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