Abstract 15225: Post-ischemic Myocardial Insulin Resistance Induced by Tnf-α Overproduction Precipitates the Development of Heart Failure After Myocardial Infarction
Objectives: Clinical evidence has demonstrated a decreased myocardial insulin response in HF patients. However, the role of myocardial insulin resistance and the underlying mechanisms in HF are largely unclear. Methods and Results: Sprague Dawley rats subjected to myocardial infarction (MI) resulted in a progressive left ventricular (LV) remodeling and dysfunction. Echocardiographic assessment showed preserved LV end-systolic dimension (LVESD 0.453 ± 0.027 cm) and ejection fraction (EF 57.03 ± 2.35%) at 1 wk after MI, and evident LV dilation (LVESD 0.612 ± 0.026 cm) and dysfunction (EF 40.21 ± 3.09%) at 4 wk after MI. Myocardial insulin sensitivity decreased significantly at 1 wk after MI as evidenced by reduced insulin-stimulated myocardial fluorodeoxyglucose uptake (Standardized Uptake Value: 2.71 ± 0.42 vs. 5.13 ± 0.51 of sham+insulin, n=6, P <0.01) and GLUT-4 translocation and altered insulin signaling, whereas systemic insulin sensitivity remained unchanged. Mechanistically, myocardial TNF-α production was increased following MI. Treatment with etanercept (a TNF-α inhibitor) post-MI improved myocardial insulin sensitivity, while adenovirus-mediated overexpression of TNF-α resulted in myocardial insulin resistance in non-MI hearts. In addition, TNF-α overexpressed rat hearts exhibited LV dysfunction (EF 41.32 ± 4.21%) and LV dilation as early as 1 wk after MI. Moreover, insulin treatment during the first week following MI suppressed myocardial TNF-α production and increased myocardial insulin sensitivity, resulting in alleviated cardiac dysfunction and remodeling at 4 wk after MI. Importantly, in a separate experiment, cardiomyocyte-specific insulin receptor knockout mice exhibited aggravated post-ischemic LV remodeling and dysfunction compared with littermate controls. Conclusions: Our data provide novel insights that myocardial insulin resistance, independently of systemic insulin resistance, precipitates the development of post-ischemic HF. Myocardial insulin resistance is an early event partly attributed to myocardial TNF-α overproduction following MI. This finding indicates the essential role of myocardial insulin signaling in protection against ischemic HF.