Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 4, 2026

Study of In Vivo Glucose Metabolism in High-fat Diet-fed Mice Using Oral Glucose Tolerance Test OGTT and Insulin Tolerance Test ITT
Published on: January 7, 2018
High blood pressure mediated the effect of fasting insulin level on nonalcoholic fatty liver disease risk: A
Ziwen Wang1, Mengpei Zhu1, Yumei Huang1
1Department of Gastroenterology, Liyuan Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
Objective:
The interactions between fasting insulin levels, high blood pressure and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) are still unclear. We examined the causal mechanisms between these three cardiometabolic traits using Mendelian randomization (MR) approach by utilizing genetic instruments.
Methods:
Three different genome-wide association studies resources of European ancestry were utilized for the present study. Two-sample MRs were used to assess causal effects between fasting insulin levels, high blood pressure and NAFLD. Multivariate MR was used to calculate the mediating effect. The inverse variance-weighted method was used as the main analysis method.
Results:
Our study confirmed a causal effect of fasting insulin levels (IVW-OR = 9.54, P = 0.001) and high blood pressure (IVW-OR = 3.926, P = 0.005) on NAFLD risk. And fasting insulin level was positively casually associated with high blood pressure risk (IVW-OR = 1.170, P < 0.001). However, the impact of high blood pressure on fasting insulin levels was still uncertain because of the presence of horizontal pleiotropy. Reverse MR showed NAFLD had a positive correlation with fasting insulin levels (IVW-OR = 1.010, P < 0.001) and a negative causal effect on high blood pressure risk (IVW-OR = 0.997, P = 0.037). Combined the multivariate MR result revealed high blood pressure partially mediated the contribution of fasting insulin level to NAFLD risk (proportion mediated: 9.091%).
Conclusions:
Our study suggests there is a bidirectional causal relationship between fasting insulin levels and NAFLD. High blood pressure seems to play a mediating role in the development of NAFLD caused by changes in fasting insulin levels. However, it is uncertain whether high blood pressure is a mediator between NAFLD and the risk of fasting insulin level.
More Related Videos
08:04Isolation of Primary Mouse Hepatocytes for Nascent Protein Synthesis Analysis by Non-radioactive L-azidohomoalanine Labeling Method
Published on: October 23, 2018
06:13Author Spotlight: Exploring the Impact of Reduced Resistance Exercise Volume on Metabolic Health
Published on: December 1, 2023
Related Concept Videos
Pharmacokinetics in Obese Patients: Drug Metabolism and Excretion
Effect of Hepatic Disease on Pharmacokinetics: Drug Dosing and Hepatic Blood Flow
Effect of Hepatic Disease on Pharmacokinetics: Pathophysiologic Assessment and Liver Function Test
Effect of Hepatic Disease on Pharmacokinetics: Dose Adjustments Due to Hepatic Impairment
Drug toxicity: Drug–Drug Interaction
Atherosclerosis III: Management