The Role of Perivascular Fat in Raising Blood Pressure in Obesity and Diabetes

The obesity epidemic has highlighted the need to reassess and fundamentally rethink the pathophysiology of obesity-related hypertension and the interplay between adipocytes, the vasculature and blood glucose homeostasis. In reality, the components of the metabolic syndrome do not exist in isolation, rather in an intricate balance which is ultimately disturbed in disease states. In this chapter, we review the role of adipocytes and the perivascular adipose tissue in health and disease in relation to obesity, hypertension and diabetes.