Elevated insulin, norepinephrine, and neuropeptide Y in hypertension.
To investigate the relationship between insulin and sympathetic activity, plasma norepinephrine, neuropeptide Y, serum glucose and insulin concentrations were measured in ten age-, weight-, and sex-matched normotensive and untreated hypertensive subjects at fasting and 2 h following ingestion of a 75 g oral glucose dose. Hypertensives had higher fasting serum insulin (27 +/- 6 v 12 +/- 2 microU/mL; P = .02) and plasma norepinephrine (356 +/- 38 v 235 +/- 35 pg/mL; P = .03) concentrations than normotensives. Glucose load increased serum insulin (P less than .001) and plasma norepinephrine concentrations (P = .001) in both groups and hypertensives had still higher postglucose insulin (P = .003) and norepinephrine levels (P = .003) than normotensives. Fasting neuropeptide Y was higher in hypertensives than in normotensives (P = .03) and correlated with age in both groups (r = 0.7; r = 0.77). Postglucose serum insulin correlated positively with plasma norepinephrine (r = 0.75; P = .013) in normotensives, but these parameters correlated negatively in hypertensives (r = -0.7; P = .036). We hypothesize that elevated plasma norepinephrine and neuropeptide Y levels reflect an increased level of sympathetic nervous activity in hypertensives, which in turn may be responsible for the abnormal relationship between plasma NE and insulin levels.
Solt
V B
VB
Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego Medical Center 92103.
Brown
M R
MR
Kennedy
B
B
Kolterman
O G
OG
Ziegler
M G
MG
D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000032:analysis; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects; D005215:Fasting / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D005947:Glucose / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000097:blood*; D007328:Insulin / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009478:Neuropeptide Y / Q000097:blood*; D009638:Norepinephrine / Q000097:blood*
D001786:Blood Glucose; D007328:Insulin; D009478:Neuropeptide Y; D005947:Glucose; D009638:Norepinephrine