OBJECTIVE: To assess the relationship between adiponectin and metabolic parameters in severely obese women during surgical-induced weight loss. METHODS: Nineteen lean (CT - BMI:21.2 ± 0.3 kg.m²), 14 overweight/class II obese (OB/OW - BMI: 29.7 ± 0.7 kg/m²) and 8 morbidly obese (OBIII - BMI: 56.4 ± 3.6 kg/m²) were evaluated by hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp, adiponectin, and lipids. OBIII were evaluated at 5th and 16th month post-operatively. RESULTS: Compared to lean, obese groups had lower adiponectin (OB/OW: 9.4 ± 0.9, OBIII: 7.1 ± 1.3 versus 12.2 ± 0.9 ng/dL; p < 0.01), lower HDL-cholesterol (OB/OW:1.05 ± 0.05, OBIII: 0.88 ± 0.04 versus 1.22 ± 0.07 mmol/L; p < 0.01) and insulin resistance-IR (glucose uptake, M-value - OB/OW: 43.6 ± 2.7, OBIII: 32.4 ± 3.2 versus 20.0 ± 1.8 umol/kgFFM.min; p < 0.001). Considering all subjects, adiponectin levels were inversely correlated to BMI and waist circumference, and directly to M-value and HDL-cholesterol (p < 0.01). During weight loss, improvements in IR (Study III: 36.1 ± 3.9 umol/kg/FFM.min, p < 0.0001), adiponectin (11.8 ± 1.4 ng/dL, p = 0.006) and HDL-cholesterol were observed (1.10 ± 0.04 mmol/L, p = 0.007). Moreover, HDL-cholesterol improvement was significantly and independently related to variations of adiponectin and BMI (r² = 0.86; p < 0.0002). CONCLUSIONS: The improvements of IR and adiponectin were related to surgical-induced weight loss, suggesting an important role of adiponectin in HDL-cholesterol regulation.

To test whether high circulating insulin concentrations influence the transport of β-alanine into skeletal muscle at either saturating or subsaturating β-alanine concentrations, we conducted two experiments whereby β-alanine and insulin concentrations were controlled. In experiment 1, 12 men received supraphysiological amounts of β-alanine intravenously (0.11 g·kg−1·min−1 for 150 min), with or without insulin infusion. β-Alanine and carnosine were measured in muscle before and 30 min after infusion. Blood samples were taken throughout the infusion protocol for plasma insulin and β-alanine analyses. β-Alanine content in 24-h urine was assessed. In experiment 2, six men ingested typical doses of β-alanine (10 mg/kg) before insulin infusion or no infusion. β-Alanine was assessed in muscle before and 120 min following ingestion. In experiment 1, no differences between conditions were shown for plasma β-alanine, muscle β-alanine, muscle carnosine and urinary β-alanine concentrations (all P > 0.05). In experiment 2, no differences between conditions were shown for plasma β-alanine or muscle β-alanine concentrations (all P > 0.05). Hyperinsulinemia did not increase β-alanine uptake by skeletal muscle cells, neither when substrate concentrations exceed the Vmax of β-alanine transporter TauT nor when it was below saturation. These results suggest that increasing insulin concentration is not necessary to maximize β-alanine transport into muscle following β-alanine intake.

A remarkable C-IMT regression occurred as early as 1-2 months after BS in obese patients either with or without type 2 diabetes, which was associated to the early reduction in leptin, (at least partially) independent of weight loss. Whether this is a causative or correlative association needs further investigation.

Objective: The objective of this pilot study was to determine whether glugagon-like peptide 2 (GLP-2) secretion relates to insulin sensitivity (IS) in obese subjects. Subjects and methods: Twenty four obese subjects [body mass index (BMI) 40.0 ± 3.0 kg/m 2 (mean ± standard deviation)] were included, nine of which were male, age 43 ± 8 years. Twelve subjects had type 2 diabetes, all treated with oral anti-diabetic agents only. The subjects were submitted to standard meal tolerance test (MTT) for dosage of the curves: glucose, insulin, and GLP-2. Insulin sensitivity was measured by HOMA-IR, and OGIS was derived from the MTT. Spearman linear correlations and partial correlations were obtained. Results:

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of biliopancreatic diversion (BPD) surgery on β-cell function in grade I and II obese patients with type 2 diabetes using oral and intravenous glucose loads.RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODSSixty-eight women were divided into the following three groups: 19 lean-control (23.0 ± 2.2 kg/m2) and 18 obese-control (35.0 ± 4.8 kg/m2) subjects with normal glucose tolerance, and 31 obese patients with type 2 diabetes (36.3 ± 3.7 kg/m2). Of the 31 diabetic women, 64% underwent BPD (n = 20, BMI: 36.5 ± 3.7 kg/m2) and were reassessed 1 month after surgery. Oral glucose tolerance tests and hyperglycemic clamps were performed. Mathematical modeling was used to analyze basal and stimulated β-cell function, insulin sensitivity (IS), hepatic extraction (HE) of insulin, and delay time of β-cell response to a specific plasma glucose concentration.RESULTSAfter BPD, restoration of the basal disposition index (P < 0.001) and improvement of the stimulated disposition indices in oral and intravenous glucose stimulation of the β-cell were observed (P < 0.05). In both dynamic tests, there were no changes in the delay time of β-cell response. IS for oral glucose stimulation (ISoral) and intravenous clamp glucose stimulation (ISclamp) was completely normalized (P < 0.001). ISoral and ISclamp increased approximately 5.0-fold and 3.5-fold, respectively (P < 0.01). The HE of insulin increased in the basal (P < 0.05) and stimulated states (P < 0.01).CONCLUSIONSβ-Cell function, IS, and HE of insulin improved after BPD, which improved glycemic control.