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Insulin-degrading activity in experimental liver cirrhosis of the rat
M Auletta1, S Antoniello, N Abrescia
1Department of Internal Medicine, Federico II University, Naples, Italy.
Abstract:
Liver cirrhosis in man is often associated with hyperinsulinemia but its pathogenesis is still unexplained. To investigate whether insulin degradation is impaired in cirrhotic liver, the specific insulin-degrading enzyme activity (EC 3.4.22.11) was assayed in liver cytosol of rats with CCl4-induced liver cirrhosis. No difference was found between liver cytosol of cirrhotic and control rats. The results show that experimental CCl4-induced liver cirrhosis does not damage the specific insulin-degrading activity and support the hypothesis that impaired hepatic insulin handling is not an important cause of hyperinsulinemia in liver cirrhosis.