Pioglitazone Rapidly Increases Serum Adiponectin Levels in Men With Normal Glucose Tolerance

The thiazolidinedione class of antidiabetes drugs has various pleiotropic effects on cardiovascular diseases and lipid metabolism (1). Thiazolidinediones including pioglitazone have been shown to increase circulating adiponectin in diabetic subjects, although the mechanism is not well understood (2,3). Since, in previous studies, adiponectin levels in diabetic patients were evaluated after ≥3 weeks of pioglitazone treatment, elevated adiponectin may be, in part, secondary to improved lipid and glucose handling in these studies. In this study, we examined short-term effects of pioglitazone on serum adiponectin in nondiabetic subjects to assess the effect of pioglitazone independently of glycolipid …