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Original Studies |
Istituto Scientifico H. San Raffaele, Unita di Malattie Metaboliche, Cattedra di Medicina Interna; Divisione di Medicina, Cattedra di Clinica Medica (L.D.M., G.V.); Laboratorio di Spettrometria di Massa (F.M.); Divisione di Statistica ed Epidemiologia (A.C.); and Dipartimento di Chimica e Biochimica Medica (M.G.-K.), University of Milan, 20132 Milan; and IRCCS H. San Raffaele, Milan, Italy
Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Pier Marco Piatti, M.D., Istituto H. Scientifico San Raffaele, Via Olgettina 60, 20132 Milan, Italy.
| Abstract |
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During the euglycemic hyperinsulinemic clamp in the presence of high GH and FFA levels (test 2), glucose oxidation was significantly lower and lipid oxidation was significantly higher than in tests 1, 3, 4, and 5. During the same period, hepatic glucose production was completely suppressed in the control study (test 1; 94%) and in test 5 (99.6%), whereas it was significantly less inhibited (65%, 74%, and 73%) when GH was administered in tests 2, 3, and 4.
In conclusion, these results suggest that GH directly mediates the reduction of insulins effect on the liver. In addition, the effect of GH on glucose and lipid oxidation is not direct, but is mediated by its lipolytic activity.
| Introduction |
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The purpose of this study was to investigate the acute effect of a systemic elevation of GH levels independent from its lipolytic action on glucose and lipid oxidation and hepatic glucose production (HGP) in normal man. Our results indicate that GH directly decreases the insulin suppressibility of HGP. By contrast, GH influences glucose and lipid oxidation only when its ability to stimulate lipolysis is maintained.
| Subjects and Methods |
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Test 1 was the control experiment. During this test saline was infused, leaving GH and FFA at their basal levels.
Test 2 was designed to study the effect of increased GH and FFA levels. GH was infused (80 ng/kg·min) to achieve circulating GH levels similar to those seen in major surgery (20, 21) and severe trauma (22). A concomitant elevation of FFA levels was induced by the lipolytic effect of GH.
Test 3 allowed evaluation of the effect of GH in the presence of low FFA levels. GH was infused as in test 1, whereas lipolysis was inhibited using Acipimox (250 mg at 0 and 120 min). Acipimox is a nicotinic acid analog that blocks the spontaneous as well as noradrenaline-, theophyline-, and GH -induced lipolysis from the adipose tissue.
In the same subjects two additional tests (tests 4 and 5) were carried out. Test 4 was performed to evaluate the effect of GH per se independent from the effect of FFA. GH was infused as in test 2, and FFA were kept at the basal levels observed in test 1 despite the administration of Acipimox (250 mg at 0 and 120 min) by giving a variable heparin infusion.
Test 5 was performed to evaluate whether Acipimox could show metabolic effects other than inhibition of lipolysis. Also in this case, FFA were kept at the basal levels as in test 1 despite the administration of Acipimox (250 mg at 0 and 120 min) by giving a variable heparin infusion.
In tests 4 and 5 heparin infusion was modified according to the plasma measurement of FFA levels performed using COBAS FARA every 20 min. To achieve this goal, the following changes were performed in the enzymatic colorimetric method usually used for FFA assay. First, it was automated on a centrifugal analyzer (COBAS FARA II). The total time of the procedure was reduced to 8 min, allowing us to perform measurements of FFA every 20 min during both tests. The present method correlated with a standard manual procedure (r = 0.93; slope = 0.85; intercept = 0.14 mmol/L; P < 0.0001). Intra- and interassay coefficients of variation were 3.01% and 4.24%, respectively.
On the morning of each test, a 20-gauge plastic cannula (Abbocath T,
Abbocath, Ireland Ltd., Sling, Ireland) was inserted in a dorsal vein
of one hand in a retrograde position, and the hand was maintained at 55
C for intermittent sampling of arterialized blood (glucose, FFA,
insulin, GH, and glucagon). A 20-gauge plastic cannula was inserted
into a large antecubital vein of the same arm for the administration of
different infusions. The total glucose disposal rate was evaluated
isotopically by means of a prime (5 mg/kg) continuous (0.05
mg/kg·min) infusion of [6,6-2H2]glucose.
During the clamp period, blood glucose was kept constant by means of a
variable infusion of 20% dextrose. A fixed amount of dideuterated
glucose was also added to the glucose bag (
1.4% cold glucose) to
maintain isotopic enrichment constant (23). Both the rate of appearance
(Ra) and the rate of disappearance (Rd) of unlabeled glucose were
calculated with Steeles model (24), taking into account the
nonnegligible stable isotope mass as indicated previously (25). HGP was
derived by subtracting the known constant glucose infusion rate from
the Ra.
For 30 min immediately before and during the last 30 min of the euglycemic clamp, the rates of glucose and lipid oxidation were calculated at 1-min intervals using indirect calorimetry. Oxygen uptake and carbon dioxide production were calculated as previously described (26). Protein oxidation was calculated multiplying urinary N excretion by 6.25 (26) and was normalized by urea clearance (27). The urinary nitrogen excretion rate was calculated by collecting urine throughout the test.
Assays
Changes in glucose infusion rates were made according to measurements obtained every 5 min using a glucose analyzer (YSI, Inc., Yellow Springs, OH). All samples were assayed for insulin, GH, and glucagon in a single assay. The methods to measure hormones and isotopic enrichment of [6,6-2H2]glucose have been reported previously (28, 29).
Statistical analysis
All values are expressed as the mean ± SE at each time interval. Multiple comparisons among tests were performed by Scheffes F test when appropriate.
| Results |
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Figure 1
shows the insulin, glucose,
GH, and FFA profiles observed during the five studies. For the sake of
clarity, we will discuss the preclamp and clamp periods separately.
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GH levels remained at basal levels during the control study (test 1).
GH levels increased to a similar extent (range, 5570 ng/mL) during
tests 2, 3, and 4. During the infusion of GH alone (test 2), FFA
increased significantly, achieving levels significantly higher than
those observed in the other four tests. In contrast, during test 3, FFA
levels were suppressed (P < 0.05 vs. tests
1, 2, 4, and 5). During tests 4 and 5, FFA levels were successfully
clamped at the basal levels observed in the control study (Fig. 1
).
Insulin-like growth factor I levels before the start of the study were
similar in all tests (test 1, 195.3 ± 17.7; test 2, 185.8 ±
20.9; test 3, 230.3 ± 20.3; test 4, 203.5 ± 21.6; test 5,
210.8 ± 12.8 ng/mL). Glucagon levels remained unchanged in all
tests (Table 1
).
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No significant differences were found in glucagon levels at the end of
the study in all tests (Table 1
).
Glucose metabolism and indirect calorimetry results
In Table 2
are reported the glucose
(atom percent excess; APE) enrichment during the last 30 min of the
preclamp and clamp periods.
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Clamp period (240360 min). At the end of the clamp period,
the glucose infusion rate (M value) was significantly lower during test
2 than during the other four tests (Table 3
). Rd was not significantly
different among the tests, whereas HGP was significantly lower in tests
1 and 5 than in the other tests. If the HGP results are expressed in
terms of percent inhibition with respect to values during the preclamp
period, HGP inhibition was 94% in test 1 and 99.6% in test 5 compared
to 65%, 74%, and 73% in tests 2, 3, and 4, respectively
(P < 0.05, tests 1 and 5 vs. tests 24;
Table 3
). Once again, GH levels remained significantly correlated with
HGP (r = 0.53; P < 0.01; data not shown).
Glucose oxidation increased significantly in all tests, but remained
significantly lower during test 2 than during the other tests (Fig. 2
).
Lipid oxidation remained significantly higher during test 2 than during
the other tests. Protein oxidation was similar during all tests (data
not shown).
| Discussion |
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In the period before the beginning of the glucose clamp, although HGP during GH infusion (with or without Acipimox) did not significantly increase with respect to the control test with saline infusion, a significant positive correlation between GH and HGP steady state levels was found. Such an action of GH is consistent with the results of previous studies showing hepatic receptors for GH (30, 31, 32) and with the presence of a direct inhibitory effect of GH on insulin binding in the liver (30, 31, 32) but not in muscle (8). Previous studies have been shown that after receptor binding, multiple signaling events occur that are mediated by the GH, including the tyrosine phosphorylation and activation of several cellular proteins (33, 34). In cultured cells, GH determines an activation of JAK2 (Janus kinase-2) and several members of the STAT (signal transducer and activator of transcription) family of proteins, STAT1, -3, and -5 (35, 36, 37). The phosphorylated STAT proteins translocate into the nucleus, bind to DNA, and can activate the transcription of specific genes. The administration of GH in vivo to hypophysectomized rats induced a stimulation of STAT1, -3, and -5 in liver nuclear fraction (38, 39, 40), whereas this effect has been shown in nonhypophysectomized rats for JAK2 and STAT5 (41). Recently, the measurement of tyrosine phosphorylation of insulin receptor substrate-1 in liver and muscle of normal rats treated with GH showed a 10% decreased of this expression in liver compared to no effect in muscle (41).
At the end of the euglycemic hyperinsulinemic clamp, in the presence of mild hyperinsulinemia, HGP was completely suppressed only during tests 1 and 5, when GH was not administered. When GH was infused, HGP was significantly less inhibited compared to that in the control study. This effect of GH on HGP was virtually the same when FFA were suppressed by Acipimox or maintained at the basal levels by using Acipimox and heparin. These data suggest that GH is able to acutely mediate the reduction of hepatic sensitivity to insulin independent of FFA levels. They also provide a possible interpretation of previous results in IDDM patients with GH deficiency, in whom an infusion of heparin to increase FFA levels did not increase HGP when performed during the early hours of the morning (42).
Our results indicate that the decreases in the M value and glucose oxidation after GH administration are mediated by GH-increased FFA levels rather than by a direct effect of GH per se. This can be appreciated by comparing the results obtained during the preclamp period of the five tests performed in the present study. In keeping with the findings of Moller et al. (9), glucose oxidation was significantly decreased, and lipid oxidation was significantly enhanced during an acute infusion of GH (test 2). However, when lipolysis and lipid oxidation were completely blocked by Acipimox (test 3) or were maintained at the basal levels by the administration of Acipimox and heparin (test 4), the effect of GH on glucose oxidation were similar to that found during saline infusion (test 1). Of note is that a similar pattern of results was found at the end of the euglycemic clamp. These findings suggest that the effect of GH on glucose and lipid oxidation is not direct, but is mediated by its lipolytic activity. This conclusion is supported by previous in vitro studies showing that 4- to 6-h exposure to GH did not affect either glucose oxidation by adipose tissue from hypoxic rats (43) or glucose conversion to glycogen in soleus muscle in rats (44).
As in the present study Acipimox was used to inhibit lipolysis, it could be argued that the effect on glucose metabolism seen in this study not only was due to an acute decrease in FFA levels but, to some extent, was also related to the drug. Fulcher et al. (45) administered 1000 mg Acipimox (twice the amount used in the present study) and simultaneously clamped FFA levels (at 0.4 mmol/L) by intralipid infusion. They found that glucose oxidation during an euglycemic hyperinsulinemic clamp was unaffected by the drug, and the increase in glucose disposal was only due to the enhancement of nonoxidative glucose disposal. The results of our study are in agreement with these findings, as glucose oxidation was similar when Acipimox was administered (tests 35) and during saline infusion (test 1). Thus, it is most likely that in our study Acipimox did not appreciably influence glucose metabolism. These conclusions are also supported by previous studies in which Acipimox was unable to enhance either the insulin-mediated forearm glucose uptake during euglycemic hyperinsulinemic clamp in healthy subjects (46) or the suppression of HGP by insulin in noninsulin-dependent diabetic subjects when it was administered in association with heparin to maintain high FFA levels (47).
As chronic therapy with Acipimox seems to increase glucagon levels (48), acute changes in this hormone after administration of the drug could explain some of the differences in HGP among tests. However, in the present study the measurement of glucagon levels at the end of the preclamp and clamp periods did not show any statistical differences among tests. This suggests that Acipimox does not acutely influence glucagon levels in these particular conditions.
In conclusion, our results indicate that GH directly mediates the reduction of insulins effect on the liver. In addition, under acute GH administration, GH influences glucose and lipid oxidation only when its ability to stimulate lipolysis is maintained.
Received September 24, 1998.
Revised January 28, 1999.
Accepted February 1, 1999.
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