Real-time contrast-enhanced ultrasound determination of microvascular blood volume in abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue in man. Evidence for adipose tissue capillary recruitment.

The adipose tissue metabolism is dependent on its blood perfusion. During lipid mobilization e.g. during exercise and during lipid deposition e.g. postprandial, adipose tissue blood flow is increased. This increase in blood flow may involve capillary recruitment in the tissue. We investigated the basic and postprandial microvascular volume in adipose tissue using real-time contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEU) imaging in healthy normal weight subjects. In nine subjects, CEU was performed in abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue and in the underlying skeletal muscle after a bolus injection of ultrasound contrast agent to establish the reproducibility of the technique. In nine subjects, the effect of an oral glucose load on blood flow and microvascular volume was measured in abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue and forearm skeletal muscle. ¹³³Xe washout and venous occlusion strain-gauge plethysmography was used to measure the adipose tissue and forearm blood flow, respectively. Ultrasound signal intensity of the first plateau phases was 27 ± dB in the abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue and 18 ± 2 dB (P < 0.05) in the underlying skeletal muscle. The reproducibility of the measurements was good with a 4% coefficient of variation in both tissues. Blood flow and the change in signal intensity as a measure of the microvascular volume increased significantly and simultaneously in abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue after glucose intake. The forearm blood flow and muscle signal intensity remained constant. It is concluded that the microvascular volume and changes in volume in abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue can be assessed using CEU with good reproducibility. Postprandial capillary recruitment takes place in abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue.