Epicardial, pericardial fat and glucagon-like peptide-1 and 2 receptors expression in stable patients with multivessel coronary artery disease: an association with renin-angiotensin-aldosterone.

Introduction Glucagon-like peptide receptors (GLP-R) expression in epicardial (EF) and pericardial (PF) fat depots might be involved in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular (CV) diseases. Objectives We sought to evaluate the messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of GLP-1R and GLP-2R in EF and PF and their associations with the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) in patients with multivesslel disease coronary artery disease (MVD). Patients and methods Consecutive stable patients with MVD requiring elective coronary artery bypass grafting were enrolled. Clinical data, anthropometric parameters and the quantity of fat depots (cardiovascular magnetic resonance and abdominal ultrasound) were obtained. The fat samples (EF, PF, subcutaneous [SF]) were taken from patients during cardiac surgery. Relative mRNA expression of GLP-1R, GLP-2R and RAAS components (Angiotensin II Receptor Type 1 [AGTR1], Angiotensinogen [AGT], Angiotensin I Converting Enzyme 1 [ACE1] and Angiotensin I Converting Enzyme 2 [ACE2]) were assessed in those fat depots. Results Fifty-three patients (64.7 [7.4] years) were included in the final analysis. We found that only GLP-2R relative expression were lower in PF and compared to SF (reference). Ultrasound abdominal fat depots were associated with both GLP-1R and GLP-2R in PF. GLP-1R and GLP-2R showed significant correlations with RAAS components, in both EF and PF depots. Conclusions In stable patients with MVD, the relative mRNA expression for both GLP receptors revealed significant associations with majority of analysed RAAS components.