The Characteristics of Hepatic Gsα-cAMP Axis in HSHF Diet-Fed Obese Insulin Resistance Rats and Genetic Diabetic Mice.

Abstract

Stimulatory G protein α-subunit (Gsα) mediated cAMP signal is required for elevated hepatic glucose production (HGP) in diabetic patients. However, it remains obscure of the exact characteristics of hepatic Gsα-cAMP signal axis (including Gsα, glucagon receptor, β2-adrenergic receptor, cAMP, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase and glucose-6-phosphatase) in insulin resistance (IR) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). In current study, we investigated the changing characteristics of hepatic Gsα-cAMP signal axis and blood glucose in high-sugar-high-fat (HSHF)-diet-induced IR Wistar rats and db/db diabetic mice. As expected, the HSHF-diet rats were characterized by hyperinsulinemia, hyperglycemia and impaired glucose tolerance. According to a threshold (1.7) of homeostasis model assessment ratio (HOMA-R), the process of IR in HSHF-diet rats could be divided into slight and high IR stages, with the week-23 as the cut-off point. In early slight IR stage, key molecules expressions of hepatic Gsα-cAMP signal axis in HSHF-diet rats were up-regulated with significantly elevated fasting blood glucose (FBG) from 18 to 23 weeks. Unexpectedly, in high IR stage, hepatic Gsα-cAMP signal axis was recovered comparatively to that of normal chow-diet rats, and no significant differences in FBG levels were found. However, in diabetic db/db mice, up-regulation of hepatic Gsα-cAMP signal axis was responsible for its severely increased fasting hyperglycaemia. Our data revealed a positive correlation between hepatic Gsα-cAMP signal axis and FBG in slight IR stage of HSHF-diet rats and diabetic db/db mice. The current finding thus suggested hepatic Gsα-cAMP signal axis plays a central role in regulating of FBG during the developing and development of T2DM.