Insulin sensitivity and sodium excretion in normotensive offspring and hypertensive patients

Insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia have been suggested to precede and promote hypertension, possibly by impairing sodium balance. We examined insulin sensitivity and the influence of acute hyperinsulinemia on sodium excretion after acute sodium loading in hypertension-prone individuals. Insulin sensitivity and sodium excretion in response to a 1,000-mL isotonic saline bolus were examined in 24 strictly normotensive offspring of at least 1 hypertensive parent, 19 controls without a family history of hypertension, and 8 untreated, young hypertensive patients. After the saline bolus, urinary sodium excretion was measured at baseline and during a 2-hour euglycemic, hyperinsulinemic clamp, and insulin sensitivity was determined. Insulin, pressor hormones, and atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), were measured by radioimmunoassay (RIA) or high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Results are given as means +/- SEM. Offspring and controls were well matched in age (23.7 +/- 0.5; 24.6 +/- 0.5 years, respectively), blood pressure (113.0 +/- 2.9/68.5 +/- 1.9; 110.6 +/- 2.5/71.7 +/- 2.2 mm Hg, respectively), bone mass index (BMI), plasma glucose, and lipid parameters. Insulin sensitivity index did not significantly differ between offspring and controls (0.102 +/- 0.012; 0.112 +/- 0.018 micromol/min/kg/body weight [BW]/pmol, respectively), but was markedly reduced in hypertensives (0.045 +/- 0.006, P <.001). In response to sodium loading, natriuresis increased significantly (P <.05) in both offspring and controls to a similar extent, despite the presence of hyperinsulinemia, but failed to increase in hypertensives. In normotensive offspring of hypertensive patients who have not yet developed any features of the metabolic syndrome, insulin sensitivity is not impaired. Acute hyperinsulinemia impairs the ability to excrete an acute sodium load in hypertensive patients, but not in offspring of hypertensives with normal insulin sensitivity.