Increased skeletal muscle tumor necrosis factor-alpha and impaired insulin signaling persist in obese women with gestational diabetes mellitus 1 year postpartum.
OBJECTIVE
Women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) demonstrate chronic and progressive insulin resistance and a markedly increased risk of converting to type 2 diabetes after pregnancy. However, the cellular mechanisms underlying this insulin resistance are unknown.


METHODS
We investigated the progression of insulin resistance in nine obese women with GDM during late pregnancy (30-36 weeks) and 1 year postpartum. Skeletal muscle biopsies were obtained at each visit, and insulin resistance was determined by the hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp technique.


RESULTS
Insulin resistance was not significantly improved in GDM women (4.1 +/- 0.4 vs. 5.8 +/- 1.1 10(-2) mg x kg FFM x min(-1)/microU x ml(-1)). Subjects did not experience significant weight loss postpartum. Body weight, fat mass, fasting glucose, and plasma tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha remained higher 1 year postpartum than seen in previously studied normal glucose-tolerant women. Skeletal muscle TNF-alpha mRNA was elevated five- to sixfold in GDM women and remained higher 1 year postpartum. While levels of insulin receptor (IR), IR substrate (IRS)-1, and p85 alpha improved postpartum, insulin-stimulated IR tyrosine phosphorylation and receptor tyrosine kinase activity did not significantly improve postpartum in GDM. The levels of (312)Ser-IRS-1 also did not improve postpartum and correlated with TNF-alpha mRNA (r(2) = 0.19, P < 0.03), consistent with a state of subclinical inflammation and chronic skeletal muscle insulin resistance.


CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest the mechanisms underlying chronic insulin resistance in GDM women may be driven by increased inflammation that impinges on the IR and IRS-1 signaling cascade in skeletal muscle. These findings have important implications for the health of GDM women during subsequent pregnancies and their risk for progression to type 2 diabetes.
Friedman
Jacob E
JE
Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado Denver, P.O. Box 6511, MS-8106, Aurora, CO 80045, USA. jed.friedman@uchsc.edu
Kirwan
John P
JP
Jing
Ming
M
Presley
Larraine
L
Catalano
Patrick M
PM
D000328:Adult; D016640:Diabetes, Gestational / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation; D007328:Insulin / Q000378:metabolism*; D007333:Insulin Resistance / Q000502:physiology; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000378:metabolism*; D009765:Obesity / Q000378:metabolism*; D049590:Postpartum Period; D011247:Pregnancy; D012307:Risk Factors; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013997:Time Factors; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000378:metabolism*
D007328:Insulin; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha