Diabetes, Vol 42, Issue 10 1415-1424, Copyright © 1993 by American Diabetes Association
Chronic exposure of rat fat cells to insulin enhances lipolysis and activation of partially purified hormone-sensitive lipase
ES Kang, D Betts, JN Fain, SW Bahouth and LK Myers
Department of Pediatrics, University of Tennessee, Memphis 38163.
The activity of adipose tissue hormone-sensitive lipase in animals with
hyperinsulinemia has been reported to be increased compared with that in
control animals. We examined whether this results from a direct effect of
insulin on the tissue and whether it is accompanied by alteration in the
regulation of lipolysis. When rat epididymal fat pads are incubated in
culture medium with bovine serum albumin for 2-4 h with 2 ng/ml or 50
microU/ml of insulin, hormone-sensitive lipase activity in the
postmicrosomal supernatant fraction after acid precipitation and activation
with ATP-Mg2+ increases significantly compared with preparations from
tissues incubated with the vehicle. The specific activities of
hormone-sensitive lipase in sonicates of adipocytes after primary culture
with insulin at concentrations from 10 to 4000 ng/ml (250 microU to 100
mU/ml) increase in an insulin-dose-related manner. Lipolysis in response to
10(-7) M isoproterenol also increases in an insulin-dose-dependent manner.
Enhancement of isoproterenol-mediated lipolysis is not attributable to a
difference in the triglyceride content of the cells. Lipolysis caused by
the beta-agonist could be completely blocked by the simultaneous presence
of insulin in both control and insulin-treated cells reflecting normal
responsiveness of both types of cells to the acute effect of insulin.
Although an increase in lipolysis is seen with norepinephrine and growth
hormone after insulin treatment, other lipolytic agents such as ACTH,
thyrotropin, and glucagon evoke similar responses in insulin-treated and
control cells. The simultaneous presence of growth hormone and insulin
during the 16-h culture results in additive effects on the subsequent
response of the cells to 10(-7) M isoproterenol compared with the responses
of the cells cultured with each hormone alone. beta-Agonist-mediated cAMP
accumulation in the presence of Ro-20.1724, a specific phosphodiesterase
inhibitor, is significantly higher in cells cultured in the presence of
insulin than in control cells. Forskolin (1-25 microM) increases the
lipolytic responses of insulin-treated cells compared with control cells,
but the maximal response of the insulin-treated cells to forskolin is lower
than that to isoproterenol. We conclude that changes produced by chronic
insulin treatment involve more than one site along the lipolytic cascade.