Somatostatin inhibition of fructose-induced hypertension

The role of insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia in the etiology of fructose-induced hypertension was studied in male Sprague-Dawley rats. Rats consumed a fructose-enriched diet (containing 66% of total calories as fructose) for 11 days and were infused continuously during the last 7 days with either a somatostatin analogue or vehicle. At the end of this period, rats receiving the somatostatin analogue had a lower plasma insulin concentration (52 +/- 4 vs. 70 +/- 6 microunits/ml, p less than 0.01) and a lower blood pressure (133 +/- 2 vs. 150 +/- 2 mm Hg) than did the rats infused with the control solution. In addition, the increase in plasma triglyceride concentration in response to the fructose-enriched diet was significantly attenuated (p less than 0.001) in the rats infused with somatostatin. These data provide further support that the increase in blood pressure that occurs when normal rats are fed a high fructose diet is dependent on the ability of this intervention to cause insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia.