Fig. 3.

Paracellular movement of adiponectin. A conceptual model showing the potential significance of paracellular transendothelial movement of adiponectin. When vascular endothelium is leaky (left side) there is significant flux of all forms of adiponectin from bloodstream to interstitial space. However, as endothelium becomes tighter there is likely to be a gradient of decrease in high molecular weight or other multimeric forms of adiponectin whereas the smaller globular fragment of adiponectin may still be able to access underlying target tissue such as skeletal muscle. TJ, tight junctions; fAd, full length adiponectin; gAd, globular adiponectin.