Abstract
Objectives The aim of the study was to assess whether the plasma level and content of adipokines,
in adipose tissue, is associated with a medical history of myocardial infarction.
Patients and Methods The study group consisted of 33 consecutive patients (12 females, 21 males, aged
68.6 ± 6.8 years) who underwent cardiac bypass surgery. Patients were divided into
groups; group 1 presented with a history of myocardial infarction and group 2 presented
without a history of myocardial infarction. During cardiac surgery, samples of epicardial
adipose tissue, adipose tissue located at internal mammary artery, subcutaneous adipose
tissue, and blood samples were taken for further assessment.
Significantly higher levels of resistin in adipose tissue from the epicardial tissue
were found in group 1 than in group 2: median and interquartile range, respectively,
37.2 (8.9–121.5) ng/g versus 15.0 (7.1–24.1) ng/g; p < 0.049. Multivariate analysis found that previous myocardial infarction was associated
with male gender, older age, and higher content of resistin in epicardial adipose
tissue.
Conclusion The resistin content in epicardial adipose tissue in patients with advanced coronary
atherosclerosis seems higher in those with a history myocardial infarction. Increased
resistin epicardial content seems related to the previous myocardial infarction independent
of the other established risk factors such as age and male gender. The importance
of paracrine function of adipose pericardial tissue in the occurrence of complications
of atherosclerosis merits further investigations.
Keywords
coronary artery disease - adipokines - coronary artery bypass graft - epicardial adipose
tissue
