Insulin stimulation of hepatic triacylglycerol secretion and the etiology of insulin resistance

Abstract

The recent observations that insulin can either stimulate or inhibit triacylglycerol secretion by the liver, depending on prior metabolic (possibly insulinemic) state, have rationalized the many apparently contradictory observations, obtained over the past three decades, on the effects of the hormone on this aspect of hepatic metabolism. Extrapolation to the situation in vivo suggests that frequent stimulation of insulin secretion may result in a chronic stimulation of VLDL secretion, and increased delivery of acyl moieties to muscle, where they induce insulin resistance if provided in excess of the oxidative needs (mostly due to exercise) of the tissue. High fructose/sucrose diets, which also stimulate hepatic VLDL secretion, will have the same effect, especially if consumed frequently during the diurnal cycle. Due to the quantitative importance of muscle as a site for insulin-sensitive glucose metabolism, these effects may initiate the metabolic vicious cycle that results in the development of the metabolic syndrome, well in advance of overt obesity or the diagnosis of type-2 diabetes.