Multimodal Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) approach for the elucidation of the interaction between eNOS and APN in the development of obesity‐related cardiovascular disorders

The incidence of the metabolic syndrome has been increasing lately at an alarming rate, in association with obesity and diabetes epidemics, hypertension (HPT) and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Our main goal is to elucidate in vivo interactions of adiponectin (APN), and endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), two known protective agents in CVD and metabolic disorders. We bred two novel mice lacking eNOS, one lacking APN (KO‐KO) and the other overexpressing APN (TG‐KO). We use in vivo MRI in an innovative multimodal approach to examine morphologic and metabolic alterations in the novel phenotypes. Our results show that combined absence of APN and eNOS may predispose mice to obesity, hyperlipidemia and HPT. Interestingly absence of APN predisposes mice fed a high fat diet (HFD) to hyperglycemia and HPT. Hyperglycemia is not developed in KO‐KO mice, suggesting that reduction of eNOS levels/activity when APN is absent becomes important for normoglycemia. Overexpression of APN seems to prevent severe HPT but not hypercholesterolemia. Our results also indicate that APN is insulin‐sensitizing. Cardiac gated MRI data show evidence of heart remodeling in male earlier than female KO‐KO mice. In contrast to previous studies, we believe our long term, non‐invasive in vivo physiological study will provide more relevant evidence for the prevention of chronic diseases like HPT and other obesity related disorders.