Nakamura K, Yamagishi S, Matsui T, Inoue H
Department of Medicine, Kurume University School of Medicine, Kurume, Japan.
Drugs Exp Clin Res. 2005;31(4):155-9.
Insulin resistance is one of the determinants of postprandial hyperglycemia. Acarbose is an alpha-glucosidase inhibitor that delays the absorption of carbohydrates from the small intestine, thereby suppressing postprandial hyperglycemia. Recently, acarbose has been found to reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in patients with diabetes. These observations suggest that intervention of postprandial hyperglycemia with acarbose is a promising strategy for the prevention of CVD in diabetic patients. However, the effects of acarbose on insulin sensitivity are not fully understood. In this study, we examined whether oral administration of acarbose could improve insulin sensitivity in fructose-fed rats, a widely used insulin-resistant animal model. Although plasma glucose levels remained unchanged during the experiments, serum insulin levels were significantly increased in fructose-fed rats, which were suppressed by 4 weeks of treatment with acarbose. Acarbose treatment also increased high-density lipoprotein levels in fructose-fed rats. Furthermore, treatment of acarbose inhibited the elevation of systolic blood pressure levels in fructose-fed rats. These results indicate that oral administration of acarbose improves insulin sensitivity in fructose-fed rats. Our present study suggests that the cardioprotecive effects of acarbose could be ascribed, at least in part, to its insulin-sensitizing property.
胰岛素抵抗是餐后高血糖的决定因素之一。阿卡波糖是一种α-葡萄糖苷酶抑制剂，可延迟碳水化合物从小肠的吸收，从而抑制餐后高血糖。最近，已发现阿卡波糖可降低糖尿病患者心血管疾病（CVD）的发生率。这些观察结果表明，用阿卡波糖干预餐后高血糖是预防糖尿病患者CVD的一种有前景的策略。然而，阿卡波糖对胰岛素敏感性的影响尚未完全了解。在本研究中，我们研究了口服阿卡波糖是否能改善用果糖喂养的大鼠（一种广泛使用的胰岛素抵抗动物模型）的胰岛素敏感性。尽管在实验过程中血浆葡萄糖水平保持不变，但果糖喂养的大鼠血清胰岛素水平显著升高，用阿卡波糖治疗4周可使其受到抑制。阿卡波糖治疗还可提高果糖喂养大鼠的高密度脂蛋白水平。此外，阿卡波糖治疗可抑制果糖喂养大鼠收缩压水平的升高。这些结果表明，口服阿卡波糖可改善果糖喂养大鼠的胰岛素敏感性。我们目前的研究表明，阿卡波糖的心脏保护作用至少部分可归因于其胰岛素增敏特性。
