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Figure 6 Adiponectin, a cytokine secreted by adipose cells, plays a key role in opposing insulin resistance. Adiponectin has novel vascular actions to directly stimulate production of NO in endothelial cells using phosphatidylinositol (PI) 3-kinase-dependent pathways involving phosphorylation of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) by adenosine-monophosphate–activated protein kinase (AMPK) (66). Others report that adiponectin reduces expression of adhesion molecules in endothelial cells and decreases cytokine production from macrophage by inhibiting nuclear transcription factor NF-kappaB signaling through cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP)-dependent pathway (67,68).