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Insulin recruits microvascular vessels to increase the available surface area for exchange of insulin with the interstitium. Insulin-induced microvascular recruitment is perturbed in insulin resistance, and may even be the culprit of insulin resistance. As such, insulin-induced microvascular recruitment has received increasing attention. The study of the human microcirculation has however been hampered by a perceived lack of appropriate techniques. Skin microcirculation has been used as a model for the muscle microcirculation, even though the skin is an insulin sensitive organ, doubt remained whether skin microcirculation is indeed a good model for the muscle microcirculation. In recent years, Contrast Enhanced UltraSound (CEUS) emerged as a novel tool to study muscle microcirculation. In this study, we set out to clarify the relation between insulin-induced capillary recruitment in skin and microvascular recruitment in muscle.

Insulin resistance has been linked to coronary artery disease (CAD), but the underlying mechanisms have not been elucidated. Here, we assessed whether insulin signaling is impaired in coronary arteries of human subjects with coronary artery disease (CAD), and whether these defects are related to endothelial signaling.

Obesity is associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD). Microvascular function is hypothesized to be the link between obesity and cardiovascular damage via decreased insulin sensitivity and an increased peripheral resistance. Whether duration of apparent obesity is associated with CVD risk remains unclear. This study examines the existence of distinct development patterns of BMI and the relation of these distinct patterns with microvascular function.

Obesity is a major risk factor for microvascular dysfunction, a determinant of insulin sensitivity. Perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT) regulates insulin induced vasodilation. The effects of a short high fat diet on PVAT and resistance arteries (RA) are however unkown.