THE INFLUENCE OF VANADATE ON INSULIN COUNTER-REGULATORY HORMONES IN OBESE FA/FA RATS

Vanadate has been shown to improve glucose homoeostasis in mildly glucose-intolerant and severely insulin-resistant fa/fa rats. The present study examined whether changes in insulin counter-regulatory hormones contribute to this beneficial effect of vanadate. Since oral administration of Na3VO4 caused a decrease in food intake and stopped the increase in body weight, vanadate-treated fa/fa rats were compared with both controls with food available ad libitum and pair-fed rats. Slightly lower plasma glucose levels were maintained in conjunction with markedly lower plasma insulin levels in vanadate-treated rats, and this effect was not simply due to the smaller body weight of the animals. Compared with control rats, treatment with vanadate affected neither basal plasma glucagon levels nor the increase in glucagon levels observed after insulin-induced hypoglycaemia or after i.v. injection of arginine. Compared with pair-fed rats, treatment with vanadate prevented the fall in basal plasma glucagon and its exaggerated rise in response to insulin that mere food restriction produced. Plasma corticosterone levels were high in fa/fa rats. Vanadate and pair-feeding similarly decreased basal plasma levels of corticosterone as well as nocturnal corticosteronuria. Thus the attenuation of the hypercorticism of fa/fa rats results from the reduction in body weight gain rather than from a specific action of vanadate. Vanadate did not influence urinary excretion of noradrenaline, an index of neural sympathetic activity, but prevented the increase in adrenaline excretion, an index of adrenal medulla activity, that was produced by food restriction in pair-fed rats. In conclusion, vanadate administration has no or little specific effects on three major insulin counter-regulatory hormones. This reinforces the suggestion that the beneficial effects of vanadate on glucose homoeostasis in fa/fa rats are mainly due to a correction of insulin resistance in peripheral tissues.