[Insulin resistance: organ manifestations and cellular mechanisms]

Insulin resistance is an important issue in the understanding of the metabolic syndrome. Clinical insulin resistance is usually defined by reduced insulin-mediated uptake of glucose in skeletal muscle. However, new studies have shown that liver and fat cells may also develop insulin resistance in subjects with the metabolic syndrome, specifically when these subjects are hyperglycaemic. New investigations also indicate that the endothelial cell itself can be insulin-resistant, reduced blood flow and increased peripheral resistance as the outcome. Insulin resistance may not only induce hyperglycaemia, but also dyslipidaemia (increased plasma levels of free fatty acids and triglyceride, and reduced plasma HDL levels) and arterial hypertension. All these variables may provoke arteriosclerosis and ischaemic heart disease. Specifically, abdominal adiposity seems to be responsible for insulin resistance in subjects with the metabolic syndrome. The mechanism could be intracellular accumulation of acyl CoA and triglyceride. However, an increased production of peptides from the adipose tissue, such as TNF alpha and reduced production of adiponectine may also play a role. The mechanism by which FFA and triglyceride, together with the peptides mentioned, may induce insulin resistance at a cellular level, resulting in reduced glucose transport and intracellular glucose processing, is still being discussed. A change in the insulin signalling cascade is one possibility, but the results so far have been contradictory. Another possibility is, of course, that the cellular accumulation of acyl CoA itself intervenes with gene expression and with phosphorylation of proteins.