Influence of age on inotropic response to insulin and insulin-like growth factor I in spontaneously hypertensive rats: role of nitric oxide.

Abstract

Insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and insulin stimulate cardiac growth and contractility. Recent evidence suggests a relationship between essential hypertension, left ventricular hypertrophy, and circulating IGF-1 levels. Advanced age alters cardiac function in a manner similar to hypertension. The aim of this investigation was to evaluate the effects of IGF-1 and insulin on the force generating capacity of cardiac muscle in hypertension and the influence of age on this response. Contractile responses to IGF-1 and insulin were examined using papillary muscles from Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY) and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) at 10 and 25 weeks of age. Muscles were electrically stimulated at 0.5 Hz, and contractile properties, including peak tension development (PTD), time-to-peak tension, time-to-90% relaxation, and the maximal velocities of contraction and relaxation, were evaluated. PTD was similar in WKY and SHR myocardium at both age groups. At 10 weeks of age, IGF-1 (1-500 ng/ml) caused a dose-dependent increase in PTD in WKY but not SHR myocardium, whereas insulin (1-500 nM) had no effect on PTD in either group. At 25 weeks of age, the positive inotropic effect of IGF-1 was attenuated in the WKY group, and IGF-1 exerted no inotropic action in the SHR group. Pretreatment with the nitric oxide synthase inhibitor, N-omega-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME, 100 microM), did not alter the IGF-1-induced positive inotropic response in 10-week-old WKY myocardium, whereas it unmasked a positive inotropic action in muscles from age-matched SHR animals. At 25 weeks of age, L-NAME abolished IGF-1-induced a positive inotropic response in WKY myocardium, and did not unmask an IGF-induced inotropic response in SHR myocardium. Our results suggest that alterations in nitric oxide modulation of IGF-1-induced contraction may underlie resistance to this inotropic peptide with advancing age, and/or hypertension.