Digitalis-like factor contributes to hypertension related to insulin resistance.

2003 APR 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A digitalis-like factor appears to contribute to the hypertension related to insulin resistance.

According to a study from the United States, "Insulin resistance is strongly associated with hypertension and is postulated to participate in the elevation of blood pressure, although the mechanisms involved are not understood. Recently, we reported that acute increases in plasma insulin levels in normal subjects resulted in increased serum levels of a sodium pump inhibitor, termed the digitalis-like factor (DLF), which has been implicated in both experimental and essential human hypertension. This study looked at the DLF response to hyperinsulinemia, achieved by an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), in the setting of a naturally occurring and self-resolving state of human insulin resistance, during third-trimester pregnancy."

"This model allowed us the further opportunity to compare the DLF response to insulin in the same subjects postpartum, after resolution of their insulin resistance," said E. W. Seely and colleagues at Brigham Young University, the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine, and Harvard Medical School. "Administration of an OGTT during pregnancy and postpartum in the same subjects elicited a comparable serum glucose response but a significantly greater insulin response during third-trimester pregnancy, consistent with diminished insulin sensitivity (integrated insulin response during pregnancy: 1611[+ or -]236 vs postpartum: 685[+ or -]101 pmol/L, p=0.004). The time courses of the glucose and insulin responses were identical whether women were pregnant or not. Plasma free fatty acids fell ...