Acute alcohol administration attenuates insulin-mediated glucose use by skeletal muscle

The aim of the present work was to test the effect of acute in vivo alcohol administration (180-190 mg/dl plasma for 3 h) on glucose utilization by tissues under basal conditions or after a hyperinsulinemic (100-130 microU/ml) euglycemic clamp in fasted rats. In vivo glucose use by individual tissues was assessed by the tracer 2-deoxy-D-glucose technique. Alcohol administration to saline-infused rats markedly inhibited glucose use by skeletal muscles, including the soleus, white and red quadriceps, and gastrocnemius, as well as by the heart. Ethanol infusion, however, had no effect on glucose use by the diaphragm, lung, liver, skin, ileum, brain, and adipose tissue. The insulin-stimulated glucose use was also inhibited by alcohol selectively in the muscles, with no effect on other tissues tested, except a moderate inhibition in the brain. Ethanol inhibited muscle glucose use by an average of approximately 50% under both basal and insulin-stimulated conditions. However, because insulin treatment more than doubled basal glucose use by these muscles, the 50% inhibition by ethanol treatment represents a greater inhibition of absolute glucose use under insulin-stimulated rather than under basal conditions. Our data demonstrate that acute alcohol intake attenuates basal and hormone-induced glucose utilization in a tissue-specific fashion. The inhibitory effect of alcohol on skeletal muscle glucose use could contribute to the previously observed decreased glucose recycling in humans after acute alcohol intake.