Open AccessEffects of Insulin on Local Cerebral Glucose Utilization in the Rat
Author(s) -
Giovanni Lucignani,
Hiroki Namba,
Astrid Nehlig,
Linda J. Porrino,
Charles Kennedy,
Louis Sokoloff
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
journal of cerebral blood flow and metabolism
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.167
H-Index - 193
eISSN - 1559-7016
pISSN - 0271-678X
DOI - 10.1038/jcbfm.1987.68
Subject(s) - insulin , medicine , endocrinology , neuroscience , biology
The effects of hyperinsulinemia on local cerebral glucose utilization were studied by the quantitative autoradiographic 2-[ 14 C]deoxyglucose method in normal conscious rats under steady-state normoglycemic conditions. Hyperinsulinemia and a steady state of normoglycemia were achieved and maintained during the experimental period by a continuous intravenous (i.v.) infusion of insulin given simultaneously with a programmed i.v. infusion of D-glucose. Hyperinsulinemia under normoglycemic conditions did not change the average rate of glucose utilization in the brain as a whole, but significant increases in local glucose utilization were found selectively in the ventromedial, dorsomedial, and anterior hypothalamic nuclei. The results suggest that a known anatomical pathway linking the dorsomedial and anterior nuclei with the ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus may be physiologically activated in response to hyperinsulinemia.