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Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab (August 14, 2007). doi:10.1152/ajpendo.00451.2007
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Submitted on July 14, 2007
Accepted on August 14, 2007

Insulin at Physiological Concentrations Increases Microvascular Perfusion in Human Myocardium

Zhenqi Liu1*

1 Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, University of Virginia Health Sciences Center, Charlottesville, Virginia, United States

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: zl3e{at}virginia.edu.

Vascular endothelium regulates vascular tone and tissue perfusion in response to various physiological and pathological stimuli. Insulin and meal feeding increase microvascular perfusion, thus oxygen, nutrient and hormone delivery to human skeletal muscle. Meal feeding also increases cardiac microvascular perfusion in healthy humans. To examine whether insulin at physiological concentrations increases microvascular perfusion in human myocardium, we studied 13 healthy, overnight fasted, lean, and young human volunteers using myocardial contrast echocardiography (MCE) and insulin clamp techniques. We measured cardiac microvascular blood volume (MBV), microvascular flow velocity (MFV), and microvascular blood flow (MBF) at baseline, 60 min and 120 min after initiating insulin infusion at 1 mU/kg/min. Insulin increased myocardial MBV by 23% at 60 min (p<0.01) and by 41% at 120 min (p=0.001), without changing MFV. As a result, insulin-mediated myocardial MBF increased significantly at both 60 min (p<0.01) and 120 min (p<0.0005). Insulin also significantly increased brachial artery diameter, flow velocity and total blood flow at 60 min and 120 min (p<0.05 for all). The changes in cardiac MBV correlated positively with quantitative insulin sensitivity check index (QUICKI) and negatively with body mass index, but not with the steady-state glucose infusion rates or the changes in brachial artery parameters. In conclusion, insulin at physiologically relevant concentrations increases microvascular perfusion in human heart muscle by increasing cardiac MBV in healthy, insulin-sensitive adults. This insulin-mediated cardiac microvascular perfusion may play an important role in normal human myocardial oxygen and substrate physiology.







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