title: Interleukin-6 is a negative regulator of hepatic glucose production in the isolated rat liver.
abstract: The mechanism underlying the increased rate of endogenous glucose production from the liver during exercise remains unknown. The cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) is known to be released during exercise and is thought that either IL-6 directly or via a "contraction factor" stimulates the release of stored glucose from the liver. Here we show that IL-6 does not directly increase hepatic glucose output (HGO). Moreover, IL-6 infused at the same time as glucagon caused a significant reduction in HGO. IL-6 infused with epinephrine caused no synergenic increase in HGO. To test if an unknown "contraction factor" was needed along with IL-6 to increase HGO, we used human fasted and exercised plasma perfused with or without IL-6 in our isolated liver system. We found that exercised plasma increased HGO, as expected, but when infused with IL-6, reductions in HGO were found. Our results provide evidence that IL-6 works as a negative regulator of HGO.
authors.affiliation: a Sports Performance Research Institute New Zealand (SPRINZ), Auckland University of Technology , Auckland , New Zealand .
authors.forename: Jessica R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Dent
authors.affiliation: b Department of Pharmacology , University of New South Wales , Sydney , NSW , Australia .
authors.forename: Md Kamrul H
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Chowdhury
authors.affiliation: c Goldcoast University Hospital , Gold Coast , Sydney , Australia , and.
authors.forename: Sergei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tchijov
authors.affiliation: a Sports Performance Research Institute New Zealand (SPRINZ), Auckland University of Technology , Auckland , New Zealand .
authors.forename: Deborah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dulson
authors.affiliation: b Department of Pharmacology , University of New South Wales , Sydney , NSW , Australia .|d Department of Molecular Medicine , University of Auckland , Auckland , New Zealand.
authors.forename: Greg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004837:Epinephrine / Q000494:pharmacology; D015444:Exercise; D005934:Glucagon / Q000494:pharmacology; D005947:Glucose / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008099:Liver / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
chemical_list: D015850:Interleukin-6; D005934:Glucagon; D005947:Glucose; D004837:Epinephrine
keywords: Exercise; glucagon; hepatic glucose production; interleukin-6