The effects of naloxone on glucose uptake and metabolism in the isolated perfused hindlimb of the rat.
Naloxone, an opiate antagonist, is reported to reverse hypotension and to improve survival in hemorrhaged and septic animals. We have found recently that naloxone also blunts the hyperglycemic response to hemorrhage. This could result from a naloxone-induced diminution of the hypotensive stimulus to hyperglycemia, from a naloxone-induced diminution of hormonal secretion or action, from a naloxone-mediated decrease in glucose production, or from a direct action of naloxone on glucose uptake in skeletal muscle and other peripheral tissues. In order to examine the direct effect of naloxone on glucose uptake in skeletal muscle, male Sprague-Dawley rats were perfused in a standardized isolated perfused hindlimb system with or without naloxone (0.5 microgram/ml of perfusate). No insulin was added to the perfusate. Glucose uptake in animals treated with naloxone was 30.2% greater than that of control animals (p less than 0.05). This increase was not dependent on insulin. Although no significant differences were noted in the individual products of glucose utilization, the total tissue glucose that could be accounted for by these intermediates was increased in naloxone-treated hindlimbs (p less than 0.05). Thus the increase in glucose uptake by skeletal muscle noted in these experiments may explain, in part, the blunted hyperglycemic response to hemorrhage that occurs after naloxone administration. These results also suggest the possibility that endogenous opiates may be important in regulating glucose metabolism after hemorrhage.
D000818:Animals; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism*; D006470:Hemorrhage / Q000188:drug therapy; D006614:Hindlimb / Q000378:metabolism; D006943:Hyperglycemia / Q000188:drug therapy; D007022:Hypotension / Q000188:drug therapy; D008297:Male; D009270:Naloxone / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D010477:Perfusion; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains
D009270:Naloxone; D005947:Glucose