ADIPOQ and endothelial dysfunction: Despite the strong association between low plasma adiponectin and disease, few studies have investigated how the compound affects vascular function in vivo. Torigoe et al. demonstrated that reduced HMW adiponectin serves as an independent risk factor for impaired brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD) therefore plasma levels may predict endothelial dysfunction prior to onset of disease (Torigoe et al., 2007), however the findings of this study are limited as it only included healthy men.