Thorell, Anders

Elective surgery was performed after overnight fasting, a routine that may affect the metabolic response to surgery. We investigated the effects of insulin and glucose infusions before and during surgery on postoperative substrate utilization and insulin sensitivity. Seven patients were given insulin and glucose infusions 3 h before and during surgery (insulin group), and a control group of six patients underwent surgery after fasting overnight. Insulin sensitivity and glucose kinetics (d-[6,6-2H2]glucose) were measured before and immediately after surgery using a hyperinsulinemic, normoglycemic clamp. Glucose infusion rates and whole body glucose disposal decreased after surgery in the control group (−40 and −29%, respectively), whereas no significant change was found in the insulin group (+16 and +25%). Endogenous glucose production remained unchanged in both groups. Postoperative changes in cortisol, glucagon, fat oxidation, and free fatty acids were attenuated in the insulin group (vs. control). We conclude that perioperative insulin and glucose infusions minimize the endocrine stress response and normalize postoperative insulin sensitivity and substrate utilization.

To investigate the underlying molecular mechanisms for surgery-induced insulin resistance in skeletal muscle, six otherwise healthy patients undergoing total hip replacement were studied before, during, and after surgery. Patients were studied under basal conditions and during physiological hyperinsulinemia (60 μU/ml). Biopsies of vastus lateralis muscle were used to measure GLUT-4 translocation, glucose transport, and glycogen synthase activities. Surgery reduced insulin-stimulated glucose disposal ( P < 0.05) without altering the insulin-stimulated increase in glucose oxidation or suppression of endogenous glucose production. Preoperatively, insulin infusion increased plasma membrane GLUT-4 in all six subjects ( P < 0.05), whereas insulin-stimulated GLUT-4 translocation only occurred in three patients postoperatively (not significant). Moreover, nonoxidative glucose disposal rates and basal levels of glycogen synthase activities in muscle were reduced postoperatively ( P< 0.05). These findings demonstrate that peripheral insulin resistance develops immediately postoperatively and that this condition might be associated with perturbations in insulin-stimulated GLUT-4 translocation as well as nonoxidative glucose disposal, presumably at the level of glycogen synthesis.

1. Insulin resistance after surgery has been shown to be related to several important derangements in protein and fat metabolism. However, mechanisms of impaired glucose tolerance after surgery remain ill-defined. 2. Insulin sensitivity and glucose kinetics (6,62H2-glucose) were studied in seven patients before and after elective surgery (surgery group), by two step-hyperinsulinaemic (0.3 and 0.8 munits kg−1 min−1), normoglycaemic (4.5 mmol/l) clamps. Six healthy subjects were studied, using the same protocol, before and after a similar period of bed rest and hypocaloric nutrition (fast/bed rest group) to delineate the effects of surgery per se. 3. Basal endogenous glucose production and whole-body glucose disposal was higher after surgery (P &lt; 0.001), whereas no change was found after fast/bed rest. During glucose clamps, the glucose infusion rates required to maintain normoglycaemia and whole-body glucose disposal decreased (P &lt; 0.001) after surgery, while endogenous glucose production increased (P &lt; 0.001). In the control subjects, levels of endogenous glucose production remained unchanged after fast/bed rest. In contrast, glucose infusion rates and whole-body glucose disposal during glucose clamps also decreased after fast/bed rest (P &lt; 0.01). However, the relative decrease in both these parameters was greater after surgery compared with after fast/bed rest (P &lt; 0.01). 4. After surgery, energy expenditure and fat oxidation increased (P &lt; 0.001), whereas glucose oxidation decreased (P &lt; 0.05). No significant change was found in glucose utilization postoperatively. After fast/bed rest, no change was found in energy expenditure. However, fat oxidation increased (P &lt; 0.01), whereas glucose oxidation and glucose utilization decreased (P &lt; 0.05). 5. In conclusion, impaired glucose tolerance develops after surgery as a result of decreased insulin-stimulated whole-body glucose disposal as well as increased endogenous glucose release. Despite the increase in endogenous glucose production, the reduction in endogenous glucose production with each elevation of insulin was unaffected by surgery. Perioperative bed rest and/or hypocaloric nutrition contribute to the decrease in insulin-stimulated whole-body glucose disposal in the postoperative state, whereas these factors have no effects on endogenous glucose production.

OBJECTIVE Because direct adipose tissue free fatty acid (FFA) storage may contribute to body fat distribution, we measured FFA (palmitate) storage rates and fatty acid (FA) storage enzymes/proteins in omental and abdominal subcutaneous fat. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Elective surgery patients received a bolus of [1-14C]palmitate followed by omental and abdominal subcutaneous fat biopsies to measure direct FFA storage. Long chain acyl-CoA synthetase (ACS) and diacylglycerol acyltransferase activities, CD36, fatty acid-binding protein, and fatty acid transport protein 1 were measured. RESULTS Palmitate tracer storage (dpm/g adipose lipid) and calculated palmitate storage rates were greater in omental than abdominal subcutaneous fat in women (1.2 ± 0.8 vs. 0.7 ± 0.4 μmol ⋅ kg adipose lipid−1 ⋅ min−1, P = 0.005) and men (0.7 ± 0.2 vs. 0.2 ± 0.1, P &lt; 0.001), and both were greater in women than men (P &lt; 0.0001). Abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue palmitate storage rates correlated with ACS activity (women: r = 0.66, P = 0.001; men: r = 0.70, P = 0.007); in men, CD36 was also independently related to palmitate storage rates. The content/activity of FA storage enzymes/proteins in omental fat was dramatically lower in those with more visceral fat. In women, only omental palmitate storage rates were correlated (r = 0.54, P = 0.03) with ACS activity. CONCLUSIONS Some adipocyte FA storage factors correlate with direct FFA storage, but sex differences in this process in visceral fat do not account for sex differences in visceral fatness. The reduced storage proteins in those with greater visceral fat suggest that the storage factors we measured are not a predominant cause of visceral adipose tissue accumulation.