Summary

Adipose tissue is an active endocrine organ secreting differentadipokines such as plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) andadiponectin, among many others. In this study, we investigatedthe association between PAI-1 activity and serum adiponectinlevels in a group of 444 overweight and obese women and assessedthe interrelationship with visceral adipose tissue (VAT;CT-scan L4-L5), insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), HDL cholesterol(HDL-chol) and inflammation (hs-CRP). PAI-1 was inversely relatedto adiponectin (r=-0.25, p<0.001; adjusted for age andBMI).After adjustment for age,VAT, HOMA-IR and hs-CRP, therelationship remained significant (r=-0.15; p=0.001), but disappearedafter additional adjustment for HDL-chol (r=-0.09;p=0.067). Subjects were divided in two groups according to themedian levels of adiponectin or PAI-1 levels. PAI-1 activity(19.1±11.4 vs. 15.8±8.6 AU/ml; p=0.003) and adiponectin levels (9.8±4.6 vs. 8.4±4.0 µ g/ml; p<0.001) were significantly higher inthe low adiponectin/PAI-1 groups. The difference in PAI-1 remainedsignificant after adjustment for age and BMI (p=0.001),became borderline significant after adjustment for age and VAT(p=0.052), and disappeared after adjustment for age andHOMA-IR (p=0.116) or age and HDL-chol (p=0.443).The differencein adiponectin levels remained significant after adjustmentfor age,VAT, HOMA-IR and hs-CRP (p=0.006), but disappearedafter additional adjustment for HDL-chol (p=0.089). Furtheranalyses suggest a contribution of HOMA-IR and/or HDL-cholin the relationship between PAI-1 and adiponectin. HDL-cholwas found to be the only factor independently determining bothfactors. In conclusion, in overweight and obese women, PAI-1activity was inversely related to serum adiponectin,independentof visceral adipose tissue.