Chronic and acute effects of thiazolidinediones BM13.1258 and BM15.2054 on rat skeletal muscle glucose metabolism

New thiazolidinediones BM13.1258 and BM15.2054 were studied with regard to their PPARγ‐agonistic activities and to their acute and chronic effects on glucose metabolism in soleus muscle strips from lean and genetically obese rats. Both BM13.1258 and BM15.2054 revealed to be potent PPARγ‐activators in transient transfection assays in vitro . In insulin‐resistant obese rats, but not in lean rats, 10 days of oral treatment with either compound increased the stimulatory effect of insulin on muscle glycogen synthesis to a similar extent (insulin‐induced increment in μmol glucose incorporated into glycogen g −1  h −1 : control, +1.19±0.28; BM13.1258, +2.50±0.20; BM15.2054, +2.55±0.46; P <0.05 vs control each). In parallel to insulin sensitization, mean glucose oxidation increased insulin‐independently in response to BM13.1258 (to 191 and 183% of control in the absence and presence of insulin, respectively; P <0.01 each), which was hardly seen in response to BM15.2054 (to 137 and 124% of control, respectively; ns). Comparable effects on PPARγ activation and on amelioration of insulin resistance by BM13.1258 and BM15.2054 were therefore opposed by different effects on glucose oxidation. In contrast to chronic oral treatment, acute exposure of muscles to BM13.1258 or BM15.2054 in vitro elicited a distinct catabolic response of glucose metabolism in specimens from both lean and obese rats. The results provide evidence that BM13.1258 and BM15.2054 can affect muscle glucose metabolism via more than one mechanism of action. Further efforts are required to clarify, to what extent other mechanisms besides insulin sensitization via the activation of PPARγ are involved in the antidiabetic actions of thiazolidinediones.British Journal of Pharmacology (1999) 128 , 1141–1148; doi: 10.1038/sj.bjp.0702886