Clear Search sequence regions


  • birth (1)
  • blood (1)
  • clamp (1)
  • cohort (1)
  • female (1)
  • fetal growth (1)
  • fetus (1)
  • hyperglycemia (2)
  • infants (1)
  • insulin (16)
  • insulin antagonists (2)
  • mrna (1)
  • organ size (1)
  • plasma (4)
  • pregnancy (1)
  • propranolol (1)
  • receptor (5)
  • rna (2)
  • sheep (3)
  • weight (1)
  • Sizes of these terms reflect their relevance to your search.

    In this study, we examined chronic norepinephrine suppression of insulin secretion in sheep fetuses with placental insufficiency-induced intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). Glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS) was measured with a square-wave hyperglycemic clamp in the presence or absence of adrenergic receptor antagonists phentolamine (alpha) and propranolol (beta). IUGR fetuses were hypoglycemic and hypoxemic and had lower GSIS responsiveness (P < or = 0.05) than control fetuses. IUGR fetuses also had elevated plasma norepinephrine (3,264 +/- 614 vs. 570 +/- 86 pg/ml; P < or = 0.05) and epinephrine (164 +/- 32 vs. 60 +/- 12 pg/ml; P < or = 0.05) concentrations. In control fetuses, adrenergic inhibition increased baseline plasma insulin concentrations (1.7-fold, P < or = 0.05), whereas during hyperglycemia insulin was not different. A greater (P < or = 0.05) response to adrenergic inhibition was found in IUGR fetuses, and the average plasma insulin concentrations increased 4.9-fold at baseline and 7.1-fold with hyperglycemia. Unlike controls, basal plasma glucose concentrations fell (P < or = 0.05) with adrenergic antagonists. GSIS responsiveness, measured by the change in insulin, was higher (8.9-fold, P < or = 0.05) in IUGR fetuses with adrenergic inhibition than controls (1.8-fold, not significant), showing that norepinephrine suppresses insulin secretion in IUGR fetuses. Strikingly, in IUGR fetuses, adrenergic inhibition resulted in a greater GSIS responsiveness, because beta-cell mass was 56% lower and the maximal stimulatory insulin response tended (P < 0.1) to be higher than controls. This persistent norepinephrine suppression appears to be partially explained by higher mRNA concentrations of adrenergic receptors alpha(1D), alpha(2A), and alpha(2B) in a cohort of fetuses that were naïve to the antagonists. Therefore, norepinephrine suppression of insulin secretion was maintained, in part, by upregulating adrenergic receptor expression, but the beta-cells also appeared to compensate with enhanced GSIS. These findings may begin to explain why IUGR infants have a propensity for increased glucose requirements if norepinephrine is suddenly decreased after birth.

    Citation

    Rafael A Leos, Miranda J Anderson, Xiaochuan Chen, Juliana Pugmire, K Arbor Anderson, Sean W Limesand. Chronic exposure to elevated norepinephrine suppresses insulin secretion in fetal sheep with placental insufficiency and intrauterine growth restriction. American journal of physiology. Endocrinology and metabolism. 2010 Apr;298(4):E770-8

    Expand section icon Mesh Tags

    Expand section icon Substances


    PMID: 20086198

    View Full Text