AJP - Endocrinology and Metabolism, Vol 263, Issue 5 E823-E827, Copyright © 1992 by American Physiological Society

ARTICLES

Suppression of central noradrenergic neuronal activity inhibits hyperglycemia

G. A. Smythe and S. R. Edwards
Department of Chemical Pathology, St. Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Hypothalamic noradrenergic neuronal activity (NNA) and hepatic glucose output are stimulated by stress. The aim of the present investigation was to examine whether the blockade of noradrenergic responses to stress might suppress the associated hyperglycemia. Mass spectrometry was used for analysis of norepinephrine (NE) and its neuronal metabolite 3,4-dihydroxyphenylglycol (DHPG) in rat hypothalamus, and the ratio DHPG/NE was used as an index of NNA. Treatment of rats with 2-deoxy-D-glucose (500 mg/kg ip, -30 min), yohimbine (10 mg/kg ip, -20 min), or neostigmine (2 micrograms icv, -60 min) increased both NNA and serum glucose (P < 0.05). When rats were additionally pretreated with pentobarbital (60 mg/kg ip; -60 min), the NNA responses were blocked (P < 0.01). At the same time the hyperglycemic responses were also inhibited (P < 0.01). In rats that had reduced NNA due to 7 days "gentling," serum glucose levels were also significantly reduced (P < 0.001) compared with naive controls. The data demonstrate that inhibition of central noradrenergic activity is also associated with an inhibition of hyperglycemia, raising the concept that therapies aimed at reducing central NNA may have a role in the management of diseases with excessive hepatic glucose output such as non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.

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				M. G. de Vries, M. A. Lawson, and J. L. Beverly Hypoglycemia-induced noradrenergic activation in the VMH is a result of decreased ambient glucose Am J Physiol Regulatory Integrative Comp Physiol, October 1, 2005; 289(4): R977 - R981. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]