scholarly journals The Importance of the Mechanisms by which Insulin Regulates Meal-Associated Liver Glucose Uptake in the Dog

Author(s):  
Guillaume Kraft ◽  
Katie C. Coate ◽  
Marta Smith ◽  
Ben Farmer ◽  
Melanie Scott ◽  
...  

Hepatic glucose uptake (HGU) is critical for maintaining normal postprandial glucose metabolism. Insulin is clearly a key regulator of HGU, but the physiologic mechanisms by which it acts have yet to be established. This study sought to determine the mechanisms by which insulin regulates liver glucose uptake under postprandial-like conditions (hyperinsulinemia, hyperglycemia, and a positive portal vein to arterial glucose gradient). Portal vein insulin infusion increased hepatic insulin levels 5-fold in healthy dogs. In one group (n=7), the physiologic response was allowed to fully occur, while in another (n=7), insulin’s indirect hepatic effects, occurring secondary to its actions on adipose tissue, pancreas, and brain, were blocked. This was accomplished by infusing triglyceride (intravenous), glucagon (portal vein), and inhibitors of brain insulin action (intracerebroventricular) to prevent decreases in plasma free fatty acids or glucagon, while blocking increased hypothalamic insulin signaling for 4h. In contrast to the indirect hepatic effects of insulin, which were previously shown capable of independently generating a half-maximal stimulation of HGU, direct hepatic insulin action was by itself able to fully stimulate HGU. This suggests that under hyperinsulinemic/hyperglycemic conditions insulin’s indirect effects are redundant to direct engagement of hepatocyte insulin receptors.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillaume Kraft ◽  
Katie C. Coate ◽  
Marta Smith ◽  
Ben Farmer ◽  
Melanie Scott ◽  
...  

Hepatic glucose uptake (HGU) is critical for maintaining normal postprandial glucose metabolism. Insulin is clearly a key regulator of HGU, but the physiologic mechanisms by which it acts have yet to be established. This study sought to determine the mechanisms by which insulin regulates liver glucose uptake under postprandial-like conditions (hyperinsulinemia, hyperglycemia, and a positive portal vein to arterial glucose gradient). Portal vein insulin infusion increased hepatic insulin levels 5-fold in healthy dogs. In one group (n=7), the physiologic response was allowed to fully occur, while in another (n=7), insulin’s indirect hepatic effects, occurring secondary to its actions on adipose tissue, pancreas, and brain, were blocked. This was accomplished by infusing triglyceride (intravenous), glucagon (portal vein), and inhibitors of brain insulin action (intracerebroventricular) to prevent decreases in plasma free fatty acids or glucagon, while blocking increased hypothalamic insulin signaling for 4h. In contrast to the indirect hepatic effects of insulin, which were previously shown capable of independently generating a half-maximal stimulation of HGU, direct hepatic insulin action was by itself able to fully stimulate HGU. This suggests that under hyperinsulinemic/hyperglycemic conditions insulin’s indirect effects are redundant to direct engagement of hepatocyte insulin receptors.


1999 ◽  
Vol 276 (6) ◽  
pp. E1022-E1029 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pietro Galassetti ◽  
Robert H. Coker ◽  
Drury B. Lacy ◽  
Alan D. Cherrington ◽  
David H. Wasserman

The aim of these studies was to determine whether prior exercise enhances net hepatic glucose uptake (NHGU) during a glucose load. Sampling catheters (carotid artery, portal, hepatic, and iliac veins), infusion catheters (portal vein and vena cava), and Doppler flow probes (portal vein, hepatic and iliac arteries) were implanted. Exercise (150 min; n = 6) or rest ( n = 6) was followed by a 30-min control period and a 100-min experimental period (3.5 mg ⋅ kg−1⋅ min−1of glucose in portal vein and as needed in vena cava to clamp arterial blood glucose at ∼130 mg/dl). Somatostatin was infused, and insulin and glucagon were replaced intraportally at fourfold basal and basal rates, respectively. During experimental period the arterial-portal venous (a-pv) glucose gradient (mg/dl) was −18 ± 1 in sedentary and −19 ± 1 in exercised dogs. Arterial insulin and glucagon were similar in the two groups. Net hepatic glucose balance (mg ⋅ kg−1⋅ min−1) shifted from 1.9 ± 0.2 in control period to −1.8 ± 0.2 (negative rates represent net uptake) during experimental period in sedentary dogs (Δ3.7 ± 0.5); with prior exercise it shifted from 4.1 ± 0.3 ( P < 0.01 vs. sedentary) in control period to −3.2 ± 0.4 ( P < 0.05 vs. sedentary) during experimental period (Δ7.3 ± 0.7, P < 0.01 vs. sedentary). Net hindlimb glucose uptake (mg/min) was 4 ± 1 in sedentary animals in control period and 13 ± 2 during experimental period; in exercised animals it was 7 ± 1 in control period ( P < 0.01 vs. sedentary) and 32 ± 4 ( P < 0.01 vs. sedentary) during experimental period. As the total glucose infusion rate (mg ⋅ kg−1⋅ min−1) was 7 ± 1 in sedentary and 11 ± 1 in exercised dogs, ∼30% of the added glucose infusion due to prior exercise could be accounted for by the greater NHGU. In conclusion, when determinants of hepatic glucose uptake (insulin, glucagon, a-pv glucose gradient, glycemia) are controlled, prior exercise increases NHGU during a glucose load due to an effect that is intrinsic to the liver. Increased glucose disposal in the postexercise state is therefore due to an improved ability of both liver and muscle to take up glucose.


1992 ◽  
Vol 283 (3) ◽  
pp. 759-765 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Gardemann ◽  
Y Watanabe ◽  
V Große ◽  
S Hesse ◽  
K Jungermann

1. Previous studies have shown that an arterial-to-portal glucose concentration gradient may be an important signal for insulin-dependent net hepatic glucose uptake. It is not known whether intestinal factors also contribute to the regulation of hepatic glucose utilization. This problem was studied in a newly developed model which allows luminal perfusion of the small intestine via the pyloric sphincter and a combined vascular perfusion of the small intestine via the gastroduodenal artery and superior mesenteric artery, and of the liver via the hepatic artery and portal vein. 2. In both the presence and the absence of 1 mM-glutamine in the vascular perfusate, only about 7% of a luminal bolus of 5500 mumol (1 g) of glucose was absorbed by the small intestine, and nothing was taken up by the liver. 3. With small doses of 75-380 mumol (11-55 mg) of luminal glutamine, but not with 300 mumol of alanine, the intestinal absorption of the luminal glucose bolus was increased almost linearly from 7% to a maximum of 40% and the hepatic uptake from 0% to a maximum of 22%. 4. The increase of hepatic glucose uptake caused by luminal glutamine was only observed when the glucose load was applied into the intestinal lumen, rather than into the superior mesenteric artery. 5. The relative hepatic glucose uptake (uptake/portal supply) was enhanced from 0% to 55% with an increase in portal supply by luminal glutamine, whereas with a similar range of portal glucose supply the relative hepatic uptake by the isolated liver, perfused simultaneously via the hepatic artery and portal vein, was slightly decreased, from 20% to 15%. 6. Addition of various amounts of portal glutamine and/or alterations in the Na+ content of the portal perfusate failed to mimic the luminal glutamine-dependent activation of hepatic glucose uptake. Therefore the luminal-glutamine-elicited activation of hepatic glucose uptake was apparently not caused by a simple increase in the portal-arterial glucose gradient, by glutamine itself or by Na(+)-dependent alterations in hepatic cell volume. The results suggest that luminal glutamine caused not only an increase in intestinal glucose absorption by unknown mechanisms but also the generation of one or more humoral or nervous ‘hepatotropic’ signals in the small intestine which enhanced the hepatic uptake of absorbed glucose.


2004 ◽  
Vol 134 (11) ◽  
pp. 3042-3046 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Richard Pencek ◽  
Danielle Battram ◽  
Jane Shearer ◽  
Freyja D. James ◽  
D. Brooks Lacy ◽  
...  

2002 ◽  
Vol 282 (5) ◽  
pp. E1128-E1138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoshiharu Koyama ◽  
Pietro Galassetti ◽  
Robert H. Coker ◽  
R. Richard Pencek ◽  
D. Brooks Lacy ◽  
...  

To test whether hepatic insulin action and the response to an insulin-induced decrement in blood glucose are enhanced in the immediate postexercise state as they are during exercise, dogs had sampling (artery, portal vein, and hepatic vein) catheters and flow probes (portal vein and hepatic artery) implanted 16 days before a study. After 150 min of moderate treadmill exercise or rest, dogs were studied during a 150-min hyperinsulinemic (1 mU · kg−1· min−1) euglycemic ( n = 5 exercised and n = 9 sedentary) or hypoglycemic (65 mg/dl; n = 8 exercised and n = 9 sedentary) clamp. Net hepatic glucose output (NHGO) and endogenous glucose appearance (Ra) and utilization (Rd) were assessed with arteriovenous and isotopic ([3-3H]glucose) methods. Results show that, immediately after prolonged, moderate exercise, in relation to sedentary controls: 1) the glucose infusion rate required to maintain euglycemia, but not hypoglycemia, was higher; 2) Rdwas greater under euglycemic, but not hypoglycemic conditions; 3) NHGO, but not Ra, was suppressed more by a hyperinsulinemic euglycemic clamp, suggesting that hepatic glucose uptake was increased; 4) a decrement in glucose completely reversed the enhanced suppression of NHGO by insulin that followed exercise; and 5) arterial glucagon and cortisol were transiently higher in the presence of a decrement in glucose. In summary, an increase in insulin action that was readily evident under euglycemic conditions after exercise was abolished by moderate hypoglycemia. The means by which the glucoregulatory system is able to overcome the increase in insulin action during moderate hypoglycemia is related not to an increase in Rabut to a reduction in insulin-stimulated Rd. The primary site of this reduction is the liver.


1991 ◽  
Vol 37 (Supplement) ◽  
pp. S35-S42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryuzo KAWAMORI ◽  
Minoru KUBOTA ◽  
Masahiko IKEDA ◽  
Munehide MATSUHISA ◽  
Masashi KUBOTA ◽  
...  

2000 ◽  
Vol 279 (6) ◽  
pp. E1271-E1277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Courtney Moore ◽  
Po-Shiuan Hsieh ◽  
Doss W. Neal ◽  
Alan D. Cherrington

The glycemic and hormonal responses and net hepatic and nonhepatic glucose uptakes were quantified in conscious 42-h-fasted dogs during a 180-min infusion of glucose at 10 mg · kg−1 · min−1 via a peripheral (Pe10, n = 5) or the portal (Po10, n = 6) vein. Arterial plasma insulin concentrations were not different during the glucose infusion in Pe10 and Po10 (37 ± 6 and 43 ± 12 μU/ml, respectively), and glucagon concentrations declined similarly throughout the two studies. Arterial blood glucose concentrations during glucose infusion were not different between groups (125 ± 13 and 120 ± 6 mg/dl in Pe10 and Po10, respectively). Portal glucose delivery made the hepatic glucose load significantly greater (36 ± 3 vs. 46 ± 5 mg · kg−1 · min−1 in Pe10 vs. Po10, respectively, P < 0.05). Net hepatic glucose uptake (NHGU; 1.1 ± 0.4 vs. 3.1 ± 0.4 mg · kg−1 · min−1) and fractional extraction (0.03 ± 0.01 vs. 0.07 ± 0.01) were smaller ( P < 0.05) in Pe10 than in Po10. Nonhepatic (primarily muscle) glucose uptake was correspondingly increased in Pe10 compared with Po10 (8.9 ± 0.4 vs. 6.9 ± 0.4 mg · kg−1 · min−1, P < 0.05). Approximately one-half of the difference in NHGU between groups could be accounted for by the difference in hepatic glucose load, with the remainder attributable to the effect of the portal signal itself. Even in the absence of somatostatin and fixed hormone concentrations, the portal signal acts to alter partitioning of a glucose load among the tissues, stimulating NHGU and reducing peripheral glucose uptake.


1999 ◽  
Vol 276 (4) ◽  
pp. E806-E813
Author(s):  
Dana K. Sindelar ◽  
Kayano Igawa ◽  
Chang A. Chu ◽  
Jim H. Balcom ◽  
Doss W. Neal ◽  
...  

In the present study we compared the hepatic effects of a selective increase in hepatic sinusoidal insulin brought about by insulin infusion into the hepatic artery with those resulting from insulin infusion into the portal vein. A pancreatic clamp was used to control the endocrine pancreas in conscious overnight-fasted dogs. In the control period, insulin was infused via peripheral vein and the portal vein. After the 40-min basal period, there was a 180-min test period during which the peripheral insulin infusion was stopped and an additional 1.2 pmol ⋅ kg−1⋅ min−1of insulin was infused into the hepatic artery (HART, n = 5) or the portal vein (PORT, n = 5, data published previously). In the HART group, the calculated hepatic sinusoidal insulin level increased from 99 ± 20 (basal) to 165 ± 21 pmol/l (last 30 min). The calculated hepatic artery insulin concentration rose from 50 ± 8 (basal) to 289 ± 19 pmol/l (last 30 min). However, the overall arterial (50 ± 8 pmol/l) and portal vein insulin levels (118 ± 24 pmol/l) did not change over the course of the experiment. In the PORT group, the calculated hepatic sinusoidal insulin level increased from 94 ± 30 (basal) to 156 ± 33 pmol/l (last 30 min). The portal insulin rose from 108 ± 42 (basal) to 192 ± 42 pmol/l (last 30 min), whereas the overall arterial insulin (54 ± 6 pmol/l) was unaltered during the study. In both groups hepatic sinusoidal glucagon levels remained unchanged, and euglycemia was maintained by peripheral glucose infusion. In the HART group, net hepatic glucose output (NHGO) was suppressed from 9.6 ± 2.1 μmol ⋅ kg−1⋅ min−1(basal) to 4.6 ± 1.0 μmol ⋅ kg−1⋅ min−1(15 min) and eventually fell to 3.5 ± 0.8 μmol ⋅ kg−1⋅ min−1(last 30 min, P < 0.05). In the PORT group, NHGO dropped quickly ( P < 0.05) from 10.0 ± 0.9 (basal) to 7.8 ± 1.6 (15 min) and eventually reached 3.1 ± 1.1 μmol ⋅ kg−1⋅ min−1(last 30 min). Thus NHGO decreases in response to a selective increase in hepatic sinusoidal insulin, regardless of whether it comes about because of hyperinsulinemia in the hepatic artery or portal vein.


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