ADIPOQ and atherosclerosis: A careful comparative study of WT and VSMC-specific PPARγ-deficient mice revealed that although the plasma adiponectin levels appear to increase to the same degree in these mice, pioglitazone administration for a relatively long period inhibited the progression of atherosclerosis in the WT mice, but not in VSMC-specific PPARγ-deficient mice16, 17.