Contribution of hyperinsulinemia to modulation of lipoprotein lipase activity in the obese Zucker rat

This study was designed to assess the contribution of hyperinsulinemia to the maintenance of high adipose and low muscle lipoprotein lipase (LPL) activity in the obese Zucker fa/fa rat. Insulinemia in obese Zucker rats was reduced for 4 days with a single injection of low-dose streptozotocin (STZ). Saline-injected intact obese (obese-INT) and STZ-injected obese (obese-STZ) rats were compared with a lean Fa/? reference group. LPL activity was assessed after a 12-hour fast, with or without a 1-hour refeeding period. Fasting serum insulin levels were 17-fold higher in obese-INT versus lean rats and were reduced to 60% of obese-INT levels in obese-STZ animals. In the postprandial state, serum insulin levels remained low in obese-STZ rats and were similar to the values in lean animals, whereas insulinemia increased in the obese-INT group to 18-fold the levels in lean rats. Serum glucose, nonesterified fatty acid (NEFA), and triglyceride levels, which were higher in obese-INT versus lean rats, were further increased in the obese-STZ group. Tissue weights of obese rats were unaffected by STZ treatment. Fasting LPL specific activity was higher in white adipose tissue ([WAT] + 87%) and brown adipose tissue ([BAT] + 167%) of obese-INT versus lean rats. Reducing the insulinemia in obese-STZ rats reduced fasting enzyme activity to the levels in lean animals in both WAT and BAT. Insulinemia and adipose LPL activity were positively correlated in the fasted state. Acute food intake increased WAT LPL activity in lean animals, but not in obese animals. Soleus LPL activity was lower in obese-INT compared with lean rats and was further decreased in obese-STZ animals. Heart LPL was decreased only in obese-STZ rats compared with the lean group. LPL in muscle tissue was not correlated with insulinemia, but an inverse relationship was found between serum NEFA levels and enzyme activity. It is concluded that in the obese Zucker rat, hyperinsulinemia is responsible for the maintenance of elevated basal LPL activity in adipose tissue independently of fat mass, whereas muscle enzyme activity appears to be more strongly and inversely related to the availability or tissue utilization of lipid substrates. Copyright (C) 2000 by W.B. Saunders Company.