Insulin resistance in spontaneously hypertensive rats. Difference in interpretation based on insulin infusion rate or on plasma insulin in glucose clamp studies.

Isotopic glucose turnover was measured during euglycemic glucose clamp studies in spontaneously hypertensive rats and normotensive Wistar-Kyoto control rats, under pentobarbital sodium anesthesia. At an insulin infusion rate of 4 mU.kg-1 x min-1, glucose disposal rate and hepatic glucose output were not significantly different in either group, at a plasma glucose of 6 mM. However, steady-state plasma insulin levels in spontaneously hypertensive rats were more than double those in Wistar-Kyoto rats (2.34 +/- 0.16 [mean +/- SE] vs. 6.78 +/- 0.58 nM, P < 0.00005, n = 7 in each group). Additional studies (n = 30 in spontaneously hypertensive rats and n = 32 in Wistar-Kyoto control rats) were conducted to match insulin levels in the two groups over a wide range, using infusion rates of 0.5-10 mU.kg-1 x min-1. When the responses of glucose disposal rate and hepatic glucose output to insulin were analyzed from the standpoint of plasma insulin levels, a highly significant difference was seen in the response to insulin between spontaneously hypertensive rats and Wistar-Kyoto rats, for both glucose disposal rate (P < 0.000005) and hepatic glucose output (P = 0.00007). The slope of the regression line for glucose disposal rate versus plasma insulin was lower in spontaneously hypertensive rats compared with Wistar-Kyoto rats (2.652 vs. 4.864, P < 0.001), indicating that insulin stimulation of glucose disposal rate was reduced by 50% in spontaneously hypertensive rats.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)