Postabsorptive respiratory quotient and insulin-stimulated glucose storage rate in nondiabetic pima indians are related To glycogen synthase fractional activity in cultured myoblasts.

A decreased ratio of fat to carbohydrate oxidation rate (an elevated respiratory quotient) predicts the development of obesity. Skeletal muscle accounts for a major fraction of total body lipid oxidation and is the principle site for reduced glucose storage in insulin-resistant subjects. The potentially important role that muscle has in promoting obesity or insulin resistance may be based on metabolic control intrinsic to skeletal muscle. Cultured skeletal muscle provides a system to examine the importance of inherent metabolic traits in muscle biopsies from obese and insulin-resistant subjects. Glycogen synthase fractional activity (GSFA) was measured in cultured myoblasts from 21 Pima Indians characterized in vivo using indirect calorimetry and a euglycemic hyperinsulinemic clamp. Basal GSFA in cultured muscle cells is inversely correlated with postabsorptive respiratory quotient of the muscle donors (r = -0.66, P = 0.001) and with in vivo high dose insulin-stimulated glucose storage rates (r = 0.47, P = 0.04). These results indicate that the postabsorptive respiratory quotients and insulin-mediated glucose storage rates in vivo share a common regulatory mechanism with GSFA in cultured myoblasts. Abnormal regulation of glycogen synthase phosphorylation state may be an intrinsic defect in skeletal muscle associated with obesity and insulin resistance.

Defective insulin response of cyclic adenosine monophosphate-dependent protein kinase in insulin-resistant humans.

Insulin-stimulated glycogen synthase activity in human muscle correlates with insulin-mediated glucose disposal and is reduced in insulin-resistant subjects. Inhibition of the cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase (A-kinase) is considered as a possible mechanism of insulin action for glycogen synthase activation. In this study, we investigated the time course of insulin action on human muscle A-kinase activity during a 2-h insulin infusion in 13 insulin-sensitive (group S) and 7 insulin-resistant subjects (group R). Muscle biopsies were obtained from quadriceps femoris muscle at times 0, 10, 20, 40, and 120 min. Insulin infusion resulted in significant inhibition of A-kinase activity at 20 and/or 40 min using 0.2, 0.6, and 1.0 microM cyclic AMP in group S. A-kinase activities both before and after insulin administration were lower in group S than in group R using 0.6 microM cyclic AMP. The decrease in apparent affinity for cyclic AMP during insulin infusion was larger for group S compared with group R. Glycogen synthase activity increased significantly after insulin infusion in both groups and was higher in group S compared with group R. The data suggest that a defective response of A-kinase to insulin in insulin-resistant subjects could contribute to their reduced insulin stimulation of skeletal muscle glycogen synthase.

The natural history of insulin secretory dysfunction and insulin resistance in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes mellitus.

The pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes involves abnormalities in insulin action, insulin secretion, and endogenous glucose output (EGO). However, the sequence with which these abnormalities develop and their relative contributions to the deterioration in glucose tolerance remain unclear in the absence of a detailed longitudinal study. We measured insulin action, insulin secretion, and EGO longitudinally in 17 Pima Indians, in whom glucose tolerance deteriorated from normal (NGT) to impaired (IGT) to diabetic over 5.1 +/- 1.4 years. Transition from NGT to IGT was associated with an increase in body weight, a decline in insulin-stimulated glucose disposal, and a decline in the acute insulin secretory response (AIR) to intravenous glucose, but no change in EGO. Progression from IGT to diabetes was accompanied by a further increase in body weight, further decreases in insulin-stimulated glucose disposal and AIR, and an increase in basal EGO. Thirty-one subjects who retained NGT over a similar period also gained weight, but their AIR increased with decreasing insulin-stimulated glucose disposal. Thus, defects in insulin secretion and insulin action occur early in the pathogenesis of diabetes. Intervention to prevent diabetes should target both abnormalities.

Insulin resistance is associated with reduced fasting and insulin-stimulated glycogen synthase phosphatase activity in human skeletal muscle.

Insulin-stimulated glycogen synthase activity in human skeletal muscle correlates with insulin-mediated glucose disposal rate (M) and is reduced in insulin-resistant subjects. We have previously reported reduced insulin-stimulated glycogen synthase activity associated with reduced fasting glycogen synthase phosphatase activity in skeletal muscle of insulin-resistant Pima Indians. In this study we investigated the time course for insulin stimulation of glycogen synthase and synthase phosphatase during a 2-h high-dose insulin infusion (600 mU/min per m2) in six insulin-sensitive caucasians (group S) and in five insulin-resistant Pima Indians (group R). Percutaneous muscle biopsies were obtained from the quadriceps femoris muscle after insulin infusion for 0, 10, 20, 40, and 120 min. In group S, insulin-stimulated glycogen synthase activity increased with time and was significantly higher than in group R. In group S, synthase phosphatase activity increased significantly by 25% at 10 min and then decreased gradually. No significant change in synthase phosphatase was seen in group R and activity was lower than group S at 0 to 20 min. These data suggest that a low basal synthase phosphatase activity and a defect in its response to insulin explain, at least in part, reduced insulin stimulation of skeletal muscle glycogen synthase associated with insulin resistance.

Deficiency in phosphorylase phosphatase activity despite elevated protein phosphatase type-1 catalytic subunit in skeletal muscle from insulin-resistant subjects.

Glycogen synthase is activated by protein phosphatase type-1 (PP-1). The spontaneous PP-1 activity accounts for only a small fraction of total PP-1 activity, which can be exposed by trypsin digestion of inhibitor proteins in the presence of Mn2+. We determined total PP-1 activity in muscle biopsies from insulin-sensitive and -resistant nondiabetic Pima Indians. Inhibitor-2 sensitive PP-1 represented 90% of total phosphatase activity. Spontaneous and total PP-1 activities were reduced in insulin resistant subjects (P less than 0.05-0.01), suggesting that the reduced PP-1 activity is not the result of inhibition by trypsin-labile phosphatase regulatory subunits. This difference was further investigated by Western blots using two different antibodies. An antibody raised against the rabbit muscle PP-1 catalytic subunit was used to analyze muscle extracts concentrated by DEAE-Sepharose adsorption. An antibody raised against a peptide derived from the COOH-terminal end of the PP-1 catalytic subunit was used to analyze crude muscle extracts. Both antibodies recognized a PP-1 catalytic subunit of approximately 33 kD, which unexpectedly was more abundant in insulin-resistant subjects (P less than 0.05-0.01). The increase in the tissue PP-1 protein content may be a response to compensate for the impairment in the enzyme activity.

Relationship between insulin-mediated glucose disposal and lipid metabolism in man.

To assess the possible effects of lipid metabolism on insulin-mediated glucose disposal, 18 nondiabetic Pima Indian women (age 18-35 yr) were studied using 1-14C-palmitate infusion to measure free fatty acid turnover rate followed by a euglycemic clamp (clamp) to measure in vivo insulin-mediated glucose disposal (M). Indirect calorimetry was performed in the basal state and during the clamp. This was used to assess glucose oxidation rate, lipid oxidation rate, and to calculate nonoxidative glucose disposal (storage). Basal and clamp lipid oxidation rate correlated with basal plasma free fatty acid concentration (r = 0.81, P less than or equal to 0.0001, r = 0.67, P less than 0.003, respectively). The fall in lipid oxidation was highly correlated with the increase in glucose oxidation during the insulin infusion (r = 0.96, P less than or equal to 0.0001). The clamp lipid oxidation rate negatively correlated with the glucose oxidation rate (r = -0.85, P less than 0.0001) and with the M value (r = -0.60, P less than 0.01) but was not correlated with the clamp glucose storage (r = -0.2, P = 0.4). On the other hand, glucose storage appeared to make a greater contribution to the difference in M value between the upper and lower extremes of M than did glucose oxidation, as evidenced by an increase in glucose storage of 0.59 mg/kg fat-free mass times minute per 1 mg/kg fat-free mass times minute increase in glucose disposal. The M value was negatively correlated with obesity as measured by percent body fat (r = -0.64, P less than 0.004), but neither basal free fatty acid concentration, basal free fatty acid turnover, basal lipid oxidation, nor clamp lipid oxidation correlated with percent body fat. We conclude that an interaction of lipid and glucose metabolism in a glucose fatty acid cycle, as proposed by Randle et al. (1), may be operative in the regulation of glucose oxidation in man. The disposal of glucose however has two components. The storage component does not appear to be associated with lipid oxidation in the way that the oxidative component is and may be regulated by a different mechanism. Since the results show that the glucose storage component plays a significant role in distinguishing between those with low and high M values, we suggest that the glucose fatty acid cycle can, at best, only partially explain impaired in vivo insulin-mediated glucose disposal. Furthermore, the data suggest that the impact of obesity on in vivo insulin resistance appears to be mediated by factors other than changes in lipid availability or metabolism.

Defective insulin response of phosphorylase phosphatase in insulin-resistant humans.

Insulin-stimulated glycogen synthase activity in human muscle is reduced in insulin-resistant subjects. Insulin regulation of human muscle glycogen synthase may require activation of a type-1 protein phosphatase (PP-1). We investigated the change of phosphorylase phosphatase and glycogen synthase activities in muscle biopsies obtained during a 2-h hyperinsulinemic euglycemic clamp in 12 insulin-sensitive (group S) and 8 insulin-resistant (group R) subjects. Fasting phosphorylase phosphatase activity was lower in group R than in group S, and did not increase significantly with insulin infusion in group R until 20 min. In group S, phosphorylase phosphatase was significantly stimulated by 10 min, remaining significantly higher than in group R at all time points. The insulin-mediated changes in phosphatase activities were not decreased by 3 nM okadaic acid but were completely inhibited by 1 microM okadaic acid, thereby verifying that insulin-stimulated phosphorylase phosphatase is accounted for by a PP-1. Subcellular fractionation demonstrated reduced fasting PP-1 activities in both the glycogen and cytosolic fractions of muscle obtained from subjects in group R compared to those in group S. These results suggest that insulin activation of PP-1 could contribute to the stimulation of glycogen synthase by this hormone in human muscle. Lower fasting PP-1 activity in cytosol and glycogen fractions plus lower insulin-stimulated PP-1 activity could explain, in part, reduced insulin-stimulated glycogen synthase in skeletal muscle of insulin-resistant subjects.

Muscle glycogen synthesis and disposition of infused glucose in humans with reduced rates of insulin-mediated carbohydrate storage.

Six men with a low rate of insulin-stimulated, non-oxidative carbohydrate disposal (storage) and six with a high storage rate were recruited for study of the fate of insulin-stimulated glucose uptake. [3-3H]glucose was infused before and during a 4-h hyperinsulinemic euglycemic clamp procedure in a dosage regimen designed to maintain a constant specific activity. From the disposition of label, the rate of insulin-mediated glucose incorporation into glycogen in the low-storage subjects was one-fourth that of the high-storage subjects (P less than .02). The insulin-mediated increase in muscle glycogen synthase activity in the low-storage subjects was one-fourth that of the high-storage subjects (P less than .05), suggesting the possibility of a causal relationship. In the high-storage but not the low-storage subjects, the rate of glycolysis inferred from the appearance of metabolized tritium in body water exceeded the carbohydrate oxidation rate (P less than .002). This suggests that in these subjects there is a significant fraction of glycolysis that is not oxidized and that this component of carbohydrate metabolism therefore contributes to storage.

Increased rate of Cori cycle in obese subjects with NIDDM and effect of weight reduction.

To determine the contribution of the rate of glucose recycling via the Cori cycle (glucose----3-carbon compounds----glucose) to the higher rate of endogenous glucose production (EGPR) in subjects with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM), we studied eight obese, weight-stabilized diabetic Pima Indians before [93.1 +/- 5.4 kg, 38 +/- 2% body fat, fasting plasma glucose (FPG) 254 +/- 11 mg/dl] and after (87.7 +/- 4.7 kg, 36 +/- 2% body fat, FPG 153 +/- 17 mg/dl) a 5-wk weight-loss diet and eight obese Indians (95.0 +/- 4.2 kg, 36 +/- 2% body fat, FPG 97 +/- 1 mg/dl) with normal glucose tolerance. EGPR and glucose recycling rate were measured during a 4-h primed continuous tracer infusion of [1-13C]glucose, and the rate of reincorporation of 1-13C of glucose into C2-6 positions in glucose was quantified by gas chromatography mass spectrometry. Substrate utilization rates were measured by simultaneous indirect calorimetry. EGPR (corrected for measured rate of recycling) decreased in the diabetic subjects from 3.80 to 2.74 mg.min-1.kg-1 fat-free mass (FFM) (P less than .01) after weight loss, approaching the rate observed in nondiabetic subjects (2.09 mg.min-1.kg-1 FFM).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Linkage of chromosomal markers on 4q with a putative gene determining maximal insulin action in Pima Indians.

Insulin action in vivo varies widely in nondiabetic Pima Indians. Not all of this variance is attributable to individual differences in obesity, physical fitness, sex, or age, and after correcting for these co-variates, measures of insulin action aggregate in families. Insulin action at maximally stimulating insulin concentrations has a trimodal frequency distribution, particularly among obese individuals. This is consistent with the hypothesis that a codominantly inherited autosomal gene, unrelated to obesity, determines MaxM in the population. Preliminary sib-pair linkage analyses indicated the possibility of linkage between MaxM and the GYPA/B locus (encoding the MNSs red cell surface antigens) on chromosome 4q. To confirm and extend these findings, 10 additional loci on 4q were typed in 123 siblings and many of their parents from 46 nuclear families. The results indicate significant (P < 0.001) linkage of the FABP2 and ANX5 loci on 4q with MaxM, and of FABP2 with fasting insulin concentration. No linkage was found between the 4q markers and obesity. Our findings indicate that a gene on 4q, near the FABP2 and ANX5 loci, contributes to in vivo insulin action in Pima Indians.

In vivo insulin action is familial characteristic in nondiabetic Pima Indians.

Non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) is a genetic disorder characterized by two major pathogenic processes: reduced insulin action and a relative or absolute decrease in plasma insulin concentrations. We studied 116 nondiabetic siblings from 45 families to determine if in vivo insulin action showed any aggregation among siblings. Subjects were Pima Indians from the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona who, as a group, have the highest reported incidence and prevalence of NIDDM in the world. In vivo insulin action was determined by the euglycemic-clamp technique at two rates of insulin infusion in each subject with resulting mean plasma insulin concentrations of 119 and 1938 microU/ml. After adjustment for age, sex, and degree of obesity, there was significant aggregation among siblings of in vivo insulin action at the high insulin infusion rate (P less than or equal to .0001). Family membership independently accounted for approximately 34% of the variance in this measure of insulin action. Glucose uptake at the lower insulin infusion rate also showed familial aggregation (P less than .01), with family membership independently accounting for approximately 15% of the variance of this measurement. We conclude that in vivo insulin action is a familial characteristic. The familial component of insulin action occurs in addition to the effects of obesity, age, and sex on insulin action. Therefore it is not sufficient to simply know that an individual is lean or obese to predict his/her in vivo insulin resistance, because it must also be known whether he/she is from an insulin-resistant or insulin-sensitive family.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Distribution of in vivo insulin action in Pima Indians as mixture of three normal distributions.

If a single gene produced insulin resistance, with environmental effects creating some additional variance, insulin action might be distributed as a mixture of two normal distributions if the gene is dominant or recessive or as a mixture of three normal distributions if the gene is codominant. To estimate maximal insulin-stimulated glucose uptake rates (MaxMs), hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamps were performed on 245 nondiabetic Pima Indians (126 men, 119 women). Five models (for 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 components each, normally distributed with a common variance) were fitted to the frequency distribution of MaxM by iterative maximum-likelihood estimation. The three-component model fit the data significantly better than a single normal distribution (chi 2 = 14.3 with 4 df P less than .01) or a mixture of two normal distributions (chi 2 = 9.9 with 2 df, P less than .01). Mixtures of four or five normal distributions did not fit the data significantly better than a mixture of three normal distributions. The first component of the distribution comprised 23%, the second 48%, and the third 29% of the total distribution. Similarly, the frequency distributions of fasting plasma insulin concentrations and a principal component score derived from MaxM and fasting insulin were best fitted by a mixture of three normal distributions. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that among Pimas, insulin resistance is determined by a single gene with a codominant mode of inheritance. Segregation analyses of studies performed in pedigrees are indicated to prove or disprove this genetic hypothesis.

Insulin and hypertension. Relationship to obesity and glucose intolerance in Pima Indians.

The relationships among blood pressure, obesity, glucose tolerance, and serum insulin concentration were studied in 2873 Pima Indians aged 18-92 yr (mean 37 yr). Age- and sex-adjusted to the Pima population, the prevalence of hypertension (systolic blood pressure greater than or equal to 160 mmHg, diastolic blood pressure greater than or equal to 95 mmHg, or receiving drug treatment) was 7.1% for subjects with normal glucose tolerance compared with 13.0% for subjects with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and 19.8% for those with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) (P less than 0.001). The prevalence ratio of hypertension was 1.8 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.2-2.5) for IGT and 2.6 (95% CI 2.0-3.2) for NIDDM compared with normal glucose tolerance, controlled for age, sex, and body mass index (BMI). In logistic regression analysis, hypertension was positively related to age, male sex, BMI, glucose tolerance, and fasting but not 2-h postload serum insulin concentration. Among subjects not taking antihypertensive drugs, however, neither fasting nor 2-h postload serum insulin was significantly related to hypertension. Furthermore, in 2033 subjects receiving neither antihypertensive nor antidiabetic drugs, blood pressure was not significantly correlated to fasting insulin concentration, and 2-h postload serum insulin was negatively correlated with diastolic blood pressure. In conclusion, insulin is not significantly related to blood pressure in Pima Indians not receiving antihypertensive drugs. Higher insulin concentrations in drug-treated hypertensive patients might result from the treatment rather than contribute to the pathogenesis of hypertension. Thus, these data do not support a major role for insulin in determining the occurrence of hypertension or regulation of blood pressure in Pima Indians.

Insulinemia in children at low and high risk of NIDDM.

OBJECTIVE: Fasting hyperinsulinemia in the presence of normoglycemia usually indicates insulin resistance and is characteristic of populations at high risk for developing NIDDM. Hyperinsulinemia predicts the development of impaired glucose tolerance and NIDDM in Pima Indians, a population with a high incidence of NIDDM. Insulin concentrations in population-based samples of children who have different risks of developing NIDDM later in life have not been reported previously. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: We compared fasting insulin concentrations in two populations of nondiabetic children, 6-19 yr of age: Pima Indians from southern Arizona and Caucasians from Minnesota. RESULTS: Insulin concentration varied with age, sex, glucose concentration, and relative weight. Mean fasting insulin concentration was 140.3 pM in Pima Indian males, 94.4 pM in Caucasian males, 171.5 pM in Pima Indian females, and 107.1 pM in Caucasian females. For each sex, the mean fasting insulin concentration, controlled for age, glucose, and relative weight, was significantly higher in the Pima Indians than in the Caucasians (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: From a young age, Pima Indian children have higher fasting insulin concentrations than Caucasian children. As hyperinsulinemia predicts subsequent NIDDM, these data suggest that the susceptibility to NIDDM is manifest at a young age as fasting hyperinsulinemia.

Immunoreactive glycogen-binding subunit of protein phosphatase-1 in human skeletal muscle.

In rabbit muscle, analyzed by Western blot, the glycogen-bound protein phosphatase-1 (PP-1G) is composed of a 37-kilodalton (kDa) catalytic subunit complexed to a 160-kDa glycogen-binding subunit (G-subunit) responsible for the interaction of PP-1G with glycogen. PP-1G has not been characterized in humans. In the present study, G-subunit was identified in human muscle extracts by Western blot using an antibody raised against a sequence (the phosphoregulatory domain) of the rabbit muscle G-subunit. The human G-subunit was also a 160-kDa protein by Western blot. When the G-subunit content of skeletal muscle was quantitated in 17 Pima Indians with a wide range of insulin sensitivities determined during euglycemic clamps, there was a significant negative correlation (r = -0.55; P = 0.02) between the G-subunit content and in vivo insulin-mediated glucose disposal rates. The results suggest that insulin resistance is associated with an increased content and/or immunoreactivity of G-subunit in human muscle.

Altered insulin binding to monocytes and diploid fibroblasts from obese donors.

Insulin binding was studied in fibroblasts and monocytes from nondiabetic subjects with a range of body mass indices (BMI). Binding was compared in fibroblasts from extremely obese subjects and normal weight subjects. The [125I] insulin displacement curve for the obese subjects was shifted to the right. Scatchard analysis suggested that cells from the obese group have an increased number of receptors with decreased affinity. Significant correlations were observed between the cell donor's BMI and the concentration of insulin required to inhibit half of the [125I]insulin specifically bound to fibroblasts (r = 0.8; P less than 0.005), the high affinity dissociation constant (r = 0.8; P less than 0.005), and the number of receptors (r = 0.6; P less than 0.05). Insulin binding to monocytes was measured for nondiabetic Pima Indian subjects with a range of BMI values. Scatchard analysis of the data indicated that the high affinity dissociation constant was positively correlated with BMI (r = 0.6; P less than 0.02). The number of receptors was also positively correlated with BMI (r = 0.6; P less than 0.05). The observation that both cultured cells and monocytes exhibit changes in insulin binding that correlate with the obesity of the cell source suggests that the insulin resistance of obesity may be partially a reflection of genetic differences at the site of the insulin receptor.

Adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate-dependent protein kinase activity decreases in human muscle after insulin infusion.

We have previously reported that the increase in glycogen synthase activity in human muscle during a euglycemic clamp was not associated with a measured increase in glycogen synthase phosphatase activity after a 200-min insulin administration. To investigate further the mechanism of the regulation of human muscle glycogen synthase by insulin, we measured the activity of cAMP-dependent protein kinase before and after a 200-min hyperinsulinemic euglycemic clamp in Southwest American Indians. Insulin infusion resulted in a decreased cAMP-dependent protein kinase activity assayed at physiological cAMP concentration with increased glycogen synthase activity in all subjects (n = 5; P less than 0.01). No significant change was observed in cAMP-independent protein kinase activity. These results suggest that 200 min of insulin administration during a euglycemic clamp may regulate human muscle glycogen synthase activity by mechanisms other than the stimulation of phosphatase; one probable mechanism is by decreasing the activity of cAMP-dependent protein kinase.

Glucose storage is a major determinant of in vivo "insulin resistance" in subjects with normal glucose tolerance.

In vivo "resistance" to the action of insulin on glucose uptake is commonly found in obesity and is characteristic of noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in obese subjects. To investigate the relationship among glucose uptake, glucose oxidation, and nonoxidative glucose disposal (storage) in subjects with normal glucose tolerance, we studied 25 caucasians and 79 southwestern American Indians, including lean and obese subjects in both groups. The euglycemic clamp technique with simultaneous indirect calorimetry was used to determine rates of glucose uptake and glucose oxidation. These studies were performed at two rates of insulin infusion (40 and 400 mU/m2 X min), with resulting mean plasma insulin concentrations of 113 and 1839 microU/ml, respectively. At the lower insulin infusion rate, there was no glucose storage in subjects with a glucose uptake rate of about 2.2 mg/kg fat free mass X min. In contrast, glucose storage accounted for over 45% of the glucose disposal in subjects with glucose uptake rates over 7.0 mg/kg fat free mass X min studied at similar insulin concentrations. At the high insulin infusion rate, over 70% of the difference in glucose uptake between subjects with a low or high capacity for glucose disposal was due to glucose storage. These studies demonstrated that in normal subjects at both physiological and maximally stimulating plasma insulin concentrations, glucose storage is a major factor in distinguishing between those with low or high rates of insulin-mediated glucose disposal. Since glucose storage may be a specifically activated process, we hypothesize that failure to activate glucose storage is a major defect causing in vivo insulin resistance in subjects with normal glucose tolerance.

Reduced Na+, K+ -ATPase activity in intact red cells and isolated membranes from obese man.

Na+, K+ -ATPase activity was measured in red blood cells from 20 nondiabetic euthyroid male Pima Indians with varying degrees of obesity; their body mass indices ranged from 22-60 kg/m2. The na+, K+ -ATPase, measured both by 86Rb uptake in intact cells and ATP hydrolysis by purified membranes, was inversely correlated with body mass index (r = -0.62; P less than 0.005 and r = -0.75; P less than 0.0001, respectively). These results confirm that obesity is associated with decreased Na+, K+ -ATPase in intact red blood cells, and provide the first demonstration of a reduced sodium pump in isolated red cell membrane preparations from obese men.

Tyrosine kinase activity of skeletal muscle during insulin infusion in humans.

Insulin receptor tyrosine kinase is stimulated by insulin in vivo, and this provides a mechanism by which the signal from insulin is transmitted into target cells. This study examined the time course of the in vivo activation of the kinase. Five nondiabetic Pima Indians had a euglycemic clamp at an insulin dose of 600 mU/min.m2, resulting in plasma insulin concentrations of about 15 nM by 30 min. Percutaneous muscle biopsies were taken from the vastus lateralis before and at regular intervals during insulin infusion, and the in vivo and in vitro tyrosine kinase activities were measured. There was a rapid in vivo activation of the kinase, detectable at less than 10 min and reaching a maximum within 30 min of insulin infusion. The time course of in vivo kinase activity, plasma insulin concentrations, and insulin-mediated glucose disposal rates displayed parallel patterns, indicating close interrelationships among these variables. The insulin concentration at which the kinase activity was maximal was about 10 nM both in vivo and in vitro. In vitro, however, this maximum increased with the degree of the kinase activation in vivo, indicating that the kinase potential in vitro is dependent on previous insulin exposure in vivo. We conclude that in vivo activation of the insulin receptor tyrosine kinase in human skeletal muscle is a rapid process, related to insulin action on glucose disposal, and that circulating insulin primes inactive insulin receptor molecules for subsequent tyrosine kinase activation by a mechanism that remains to be elucidated.