title: Chromium supplementation improved post-stroke brain infarction and hyperglycemia.
abstract: Hyperglycemia is common after acute stroke and is associated with a worse outcome of stroke. Thus, a better understanding of stress hyperglycemia is helpful to the prevention and therapeutic treatment of stroke. Chromium is an essential nutrient required for optimal insulin activity and normal carbohydrate and lipid metabolism. Beyond its nutritional effects, dietary supplement of chromium causes beneficial outcomes against several diseases, in particular diabetes-associated complications. In this study, we investigated whether post-stroke hyperglycemia involved chromium dynamic mobilization in a rat model of permanent focal cerebral ischemia and whether dietary supplement of chromium improved post-stroke injury and alterations. Stroke rats developed brain infarction, hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, glucose intolerance, and insulin resistance. Post-stroke hyperglycemia was accompanied by elevated secretion of counter-regulatory hormones including glucagon, corticosterone, and norepinephrine, decreased insulin signaling in skeletal muscles, and increased hepatic gluconeogenesis. Correlation studies revealed that counter-regulatory hormone secretion showed a positive correlation with chromium loss and blood glucose increased together with chromium loss. Daily chromium supplementation increased tissue chromium levels, attenuated brain infarction, improved hyperglycemia, and decreased plasma levels of glucagon and corticosterone in stroke rats. Our findings suggest that stroke rats show disturbance of tissue chromium homeostasis with a net loss through urinary excretion and chromium mobilization and loss might be an alternative mechanism responsible for post-stroke hyperglycemia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Wen-Ying
authors.initials: WY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Frank Chiahung
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Mao
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chia-Hsin
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yu-Hsiang
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Kuan
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Nai-Wei
authors.initials: NW
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.|Department of Financial and Computational Mathematics, Providence University, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chih-Cheng
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedical Sciences, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan. cjchen@vghtc.gov.tw.|Department of Medical Research, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, No. 1650, Sec. 4, Taiwan Boulevard, Taichung City, 407, Taiwan. cjchen@vghtc.gov.tw.
authors.forename: Chun-Jung
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000188:drug therapy*; D002857:Chromium / Q000494:pharmacology*; D003921:Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental / Q000378:metabolism; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D006943:Hyperglycemia / Q000378:metabolism*; D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D007333:Insulin Resistance / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D020521:Stroke / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents; D002857:Chromium
keywords: Chromium; Counter-regulatory hormones; Hyperglycemia; Stroke