Similar PAI-1 expression in visceral and subcutaneous fat of postmenopausal women

Recent studies showed that intraabdominal visceral fat located in the mesen terium and omentum may significantly influence the circulating plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 (PAI-1). To substantiate this link, we performed analysis of PAI-1 expression in human visceral and subcutaneous adipose ti ssues in peri- and postmenopausal women. The samples of both visceral and s ubcutaneous fat from 28 generally healthy women (aged 45-69 years) with a w ide range of body mass index (BMI; 22.30-38.67 kg/m(2)), who underwent surg ical operation due to benign ovary and uterine tumours, were obtained. In t hese samples, expression of mRNAs for PAI-1, tumour necrosis factor or (TNF alpha), acyl-CoA synthetase (ACS), and glucose transporter (GLUT-4) was an alysed by relative quantitative RT PCR and correlated with plasma PAI-1 ant igen. In addition, visceral fat area was measured with computer tomography. Both types of fat tissues contained similar quantities of PAI-1 mRNA, and there was no correlation between plasma PAI-1, measured both by antigen and activity, with either visceral or subcutaneous fat PAI-1 mRNA. Furthermore , there was no significant association between the expression of PAI-1 mRNA and TNF alpha mRNA in tested fat samples. PAI-1 mRNA in both fat tissues w as significantly correlated with plasma levels of estradiol (positive corre lation) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH; negative correlation). Final ly, the expression of PAI-1 mRNA was negatively correlated with mRNA of ACS present in both fat tissues. In summary, this study directly indicates tha t PAI-1 mRNA is similarly expressed in both subcutaneous and visceral fat o f peri- and postmenopausal women and its expression strongly depends upon l ipid metabolism. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.