Watts SW. Organic cation transporter 3 contributes to norepinephrine uptake into perivascular adipose tissue. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 309: H1904 -H1914, 2015. First published October 2, 2015; doi:10.1152/ajpheart.00308.2015.-Perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT) reduces vasoconstriction to norepinephrine (NE). A mechanism by which PVAT could function to reduce vascular contraction is by decreasing the amount of NE to which the vessel is exposed. PVATs from male Sprague-Dawley rats were used to test the hypothesis that PVAT has a NE uptake mechanism. NE was detected by HPLC in mesenteric PVAT and isolated adipocytes. Uptake of NE (10 M) in mesenteric PVAT was reduced by the NE transporter (NET) inhibitor nisoxetine (1 M, 73.68 Ϯ 7.62%, all values reported as percentages of vehicle), the 5-hydroxytryptamine transporter (SERT) inhibitor citalopram (100 nM) with the organic cation transporter 3 (OCT3) inhibitor corticosterone (100 M, 56.18 Ϯ 5.21%), and the NET inhibitor desipramine (10 M) with corticosterone (100 M, 61.18 Ϯ 6.82%). Aortic PVAT NE uptake was reduced by corticosterone (100 M, 53.01 Ϯ 10.96%). Confocal imaging of mesenteric PVAT stained with 4-[4-(dimethylamino)-styrl]-N-methylpyridinium iodide (ASP ϩ ), a fluorescent substrate of cationic transporters, detected ASP ϩ uptake into adipocytes. ASP ϩ (2 M) uptake was reduced by citalopram (100 nM, 66.68 Ϯ 6.43%), corticosterone (100 M, 43.49 Ϯ 10.17%), nisoxetine (100 nM, 84.12 Ϯ 4.24%), citalopram with corticosterone (100 nM and 100 M, respectively, 35.75 Ϯ 4.21%), and desipramine with corticosterone (10 and 100 M, respectively, 50.47 Ϯ 5.78%). NET protein was not detected in mesenteric PVAT adipocytes. Expression of Slc22a3 (OCT3 gene) mRNA and protein in PVAT adipocytes was detected by RT-PCR and immunocytochemistry, respectively. These end points support the presence of a transporter-mediated NE uptake system within PVAT with a potential mediator being OCT3. PERIVASCULAR ADIPOSE TISSUE (PVAT) closely envelops many blood vessels of the body (65). This relationship between PVAT and the blood vessel has earned PVAT its place as the fourth layer of the blood vessel, the "tunica adiposa" (14). Beyond providing structural support, PVAT has many roles in modulating blood vessel function (68). The release of vasoactive molecules from PVAT influences vascular function by altering the proliferation, migration, inflammation, and contraction of vascular smooth muscle (9, 20 -22, 24, 46, 68, 72). Interestingly, a releasable pool of catecholamines is present in PVAT (5, 67). Although both contractile and anticontractile substances can be released from PVAT (9,22,24,25,72), the presence of PVAT on blood vessels generally reduces vessel contraction in response to various agonists, including norepinephrine (NE) (64). Knowledge on how these mechanisms interact to influence the anticontractile properties of PVAT in NE-induced contraction is not complete (36).The anticontractile effect of PVAT is lost in obesity and hypertension, implicating PVAT as an integral lin...