Particulate Matter Exposure During Perinatal Life Results in Impaired Glucose Metabolism in Adult Male Rat Offspring.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Particulate matter (PM) is an important risk factor for immunological system imbalance due to its small size, which can reach more distal regions of the respiratory tract, independently of its chemical composition. Some studies have suggested that PM exposure is associated with an increased incidence of diabetes, especially in industrialized urban regions. However, studies regarding the effects of PM exposure during perinatal life on glucose metabolism are limited. We tested whether exposure to PM from an urban area with poor air quality during pregnancy and lactation could cause short- and long-term dysfunction in rat offspring. METHODS: Samples of < 10 µm PM were collected in an urban area of Cotonou, Benin (West Africa), and reconstituted in corn oil. Pregnant Wistar rats received 50 µg PM/day by gavage until the end of lactation. After birth, we analyzed the dams' biochemical parameters as well as those of their male offspring at 21 and 90 days of age. RESULTS: The results showed that PM exposure did not lead to several consequences in dams; however, the male offspring of both ages presented an increase of approximately 15% in body weight. Although the blood glucose levels remained unchanged, the insulin levels were increased 2.5- and 2-fold in PM exposure groups of both ages, respectively. HOMA-IR and HOMA-ß were also increased at both ages. We also demonstrated that the number, islet area and insulin immunodensity of pancreatic islets were significantly increased at both ages from PM exposure. CONCLUSION: Our data show that chronic PM exposure by the oral route during perinatal life in rats leads to glucose dyshomeostasis in male offspring both in early and later life. Thus, we suggest that an ambience with poor air quality, mainly where traffic is dense, can contribute to an increase in metabolic disease incidence.

Swim training of monosodium L-glutamate-obese mice improves the impaired insulin receptor tyrosine phosphorylation in pancreatic islets.

The goal of the present study was to investigate changes on glucose homoeostasis and of the insulin receptor (IR) and insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS-1) signalling in pancreatic islets from MSG-obese mice submitted to or not submitted to swim training. Swim training of 90-day-old MSG mice was used to evaluate whether signalling pathways of the IR and IRS-1 in islets are involved with the insulin resistance and glucose intolerance observed in this obese animal model. The results showed that IR tyrosine phosphorylation (pIR) was reduced by 42 % in MSG-obese mice (MSG, 6.7 ± 0.2 arbitrary units (a.u.); control, 11.5 ± 0.4 a.u.); on the other hand, exercise training increased pIR by 76 % in MSG mice without affecting control mice (MSG, 11.8 ± 0.3; control, 12.8 ± 0.2 a.u.). Although the treatment with MSG increased IRS-1 tyrosine phosphorylation (pIRS-1) by 96 % (MSG, 17.02 ± 0.6; control, 8.7 ± 0.2 a.u.), exercise training also increased it in both groups (control, 13.6 ± 0.1; MSG, 22.2 ± 1.1 a.u.). Current research shows that the practice of swim training increases the tyrosine phosphorylation of IRS-1 which can modulate the effect caused by obesity in insulin receptors.

Melatonin inhibits insulin secretion and decreases PKA levels without interfering with glucose metabolism in rat pancreatic islets.

The effect of melatonin (0.1 microM) on freshly isolated islets from adult rats was investigated. Melatonin caused a marked decrease of insulin secretion by islets in response to glucose. The mechanism involved was then examined. Melatonin did not interfere with glucose metabolism as indicated by the measurement of glucose oxidation. However, the content of the protein kinase A (PKA) catalytic alpha-subunit was significantly decreased in islets exposed to melatonin for 1 hr in the presence of 8.3 mM glucose, whereas that of the protein kinase C (PKC) alpha-subunit remained unchanged. Melatonin also inhibited forskolin-induced insulin secretion, a well known activator of adenylate cyclase (AC) activity. This may explain the low content of insulin found in islets incubated in the presence of melatonin for 3 hr. In fact, 3',5' -cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP), a product of AC activity, stimulates insulin synthesis. These findings led us to postulate that a down-regulation of the PKA signaling pathway may be the mechanism involved in the melatonin inhibition of the process of glucose-induced insulin secretion.