Obese Rat Hearts Research Articles

Different types of postinsulin receptor defects contribute to insulin resistance in hearts of obese Zucker rats.

The influence of obesity on myocardial function and metabolism was studied in obese (fa/fa) and thin (Fa/Fa) Zucker rats using the isolated perfused heart as model. Cardiac performance of obese Zucker rats was not impaired. Instead, left ventricular pressure and contractility were increased as compared to controls. In agreement with these findings, creatine phosphate and the ratios of ATP/ADP and creatine phosphate creatine were elevated. The uptake and the conversion of glucose by hearts of obese Zucker rats were impaired. Insulin stimulated the uptake and oxidation of glucose. However, the responsiveness of these processes to insulin was diminished. Lipolysis of endogenous lipids was accelerated severalfold in obesity. Inhibition of fatty acid oxidation by a specific carnitine palmitoyl-transferase inhibitor, phenylalkyloxirane carboxylic acid (POCA), led to a slow rate of lipolysis, and to an acceleration of glucose oxidation and of the basal, noninsulin-dependent uptake of glucose. In the presence of POCA, insulin had, however, no additional stimulatory effect on the glucose uptake by hearts of obese rats. In contrast to hearts of ketotic, acutely diabetic rats where POCA fully restored myocardial responsiveness of glucose uptake and conversion to insulin, in hearts of obese rats only a shift in the glucose pathway from glycolytic formation of lactate and pyruvate to oxidation to CO2 was observed. Thus, POCA can be used as a tool to distinguish different forms of insulin resistance in obesity: 1) a lipid metabolism-dependent defect--presumably an inhibition of phosphofructokinase and pyruvate dehydrogenase by metabolites of fatty acid oxidation, influenced by inhibition of carnitine palmitoyltransferasei, and 2) a lipid metabolism-independent defect in the activation of uptake of glucose and glycogen synthesis by insulin not affected by POCA.

Left ventricular function of the isolated, genetically obese rat's heart.

We sought to determine if left ventricular (LV) function of the heart from the adult, chronically obese animal is impaired. Hearts from 50 wk-old genetically obese female Zucker rats (624 +/- 13 g) and their lean littermate controls (275 +/- 5 g) were isolated during ether anesthesia, supported metabolically by retrograde aortic perfusion (6 ml/min, 35 degrees C) with physiological solution containing suspended canine erythrocytes (hematocrit, 20%), and the ventricles were paced at 180 beats/min. A distensible, fluid-filled balloon was placed in the LV, and pressure-volume (PV) relationships were obtained. The obese and lean end-diastolic PV curves were not different, and therefore the obese and lean LV chamber compliances were similar. Comparison of the systolic PV relationships demonstrated that the obese rat's heart had a greater pressure-generating capability, which probably was a reflection of its increased LV mass (0.96 +/- 0.03 vs. 0.72 +/- 0.02 g). The calculated average meridional (or circumferential) peak systolic wall stress in the LV of the obese rat's heart, however, was significantly reduced compared with control. This diminished ability to develop systolic stress from the same end-diastolic volumes suggests that the hypertrophied LV of the middle-aged obese rat's heart is dilated or that its contractility is depressed, or both.

Effects of cold acclimation on the activity of lipoprotein lipase in adipose tissues of genetically obese Zucker rats

1.1. The activity of lipoprotein lipase (LPL) was studied in interscapilar brown adipose tissue (BAT), epididymal white adipose tissue (WAT) and in the heart of lean and obese adult Zucker rats maintained at 22°C or adapted to cold (10°C).2.2. In WAT the specific activity per gram of tissue was lower in obese than in lean rats but the total activity within the tissue was three-fold higher. Cold acclimation did not modify total activity in either lean or obese rats. In BAT, but not in the heart, both specific and total activities were lower in obese than in lean animals. They were enhanced in both tissues following cold acclimation.3.3. Six-hour fasting led to a decrease in specific activity in WAT of lean rats but had no effect in obese animals; an increase was observed in BAT and heart of both genotypes.4.4. Insulin administration has no effect on activities in WAT in either 22 or 10°C adapted obese rats. Norepinephrine administration stimulates LPL activity in BAT and heart of all groups.5.5. It is concluded that the lack of development of obesity previously observed in obese rats following cold acclimation is not due to a decreased capacity of lipid uptake by WAT. It might in part be due to an increased lipid oxidation in BAT.

Dysregulation of glucose transport in hearts of genetically obese (fa/fa) rats.

Overall D-glucose metabolism and 3-0-methylglucose transport were measured in the perfused heart preparation of lean and genetically obese (fa/fa) rats. Absolute values of basal and insulin-stimulated glucose metabolism were decreased in hearts of 15-week-old obese rats when compared to lean age-matched controls. Basal and maximally stimulated (i.e., by the combined addition of insulin and increasing perfusion pressure) 3-0-methylglucose transport was normal in hearts from young obese rats (5-week-old). However, when only one stimulus was used (insulin or increasing perfusion pressure alone), 3-0-methylglucose transport was stimulated to values that were lower than those of lean rats. Basal 3-0-methylglucose transport was four times lower in hearts from older obese rats (15-week-old) than in lean ones of the same age. At this age, stimulation of 3-0-methylglucose transport by insulin alone, by increasing perfusion pressure alone or by the combination of both stimuli, reached values in obese rats that were only half those of lean animals. It is concluded that: (a) in the early phase of the syndrome, the basal glucose transport system in hearts of obese rats is normal, but its response to stimulation becomes abnormal and; (b) at a later phase of obesity, the glucose transport system becomes abnormal even under basal conditions and its responsiveness to various stimuli is markedly impaired.