OBJECTIVE-Obesity is associated with insulin resistance, hyperinsulinemia, elevated plasma free fatty acid (FFA), and increased risk for atherosclerotic vascular disease (ASVD). A part of this increased risk may be due to enhanced activation of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). Here, we have examined the effects of physiologically elevated levels of insulin and FFA on three MMPs and their inhibitors (tissue inhibitors of MMP [TIMPs]) in aortic tissue of male rats during euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamping.RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS-Four-hour euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamps with infusion of saline/glycerol, lipid/heparin, or insulin with or without lipid/heparin were performed in alert unrestrained male rats.RESULTS-Hyperinsulinemia increased MMP-2 (ϳ6-fold), MMP-9 (ϳ13-fold), membrane type 1-MMP (MT1-MMP; ϳ8-fold) (all Western blots), and gelatinolytic activity (zymography) of MMP-2 (2-fold), while not affecting TIMP-1 and TIMP-2. Insulin increased IRS-1-associated PI 3-kinase (PI3K), extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1/2 (ERK1/2), and c-jun NH 2 -terminal kinase (JNK) (by Western blots with phospho-specific antibodies). FFA augmented the insulin-mediated increases in MMP-2 (from ϳ6-to ϳ11-fold), MMP-9 (from ϳ3-to ϳ23-fold), MT1-MMP (from ϳ8-to ϳ20-fold), MMP-2 gelatinolytic activity (from 2-to 3-fold), and JNK and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) activities but decreased insulin-mediated activation of PI3K and ERK1/2. Raising FFA without raising insulin affected neither MMPs nor TIMPs.CONCLUSIONS-FFA augmented insulin stimulation of the MMP/TIMP balance of three proatherogenic MMPs and increased activities of two MAPKs (JNK and p38 MAPK), both of which are known to stimulate the production of proinflammatory cytokines. This may, over time, increase degradation of extracellular matrix and together with inflammatory changes promote development of ASVD. Diabetes 57:476-483, 2008 M any obese people are insulin resistant (1,2). Insulin resistance, on the other hand, is one of the most important risk factors for the development and progression of atherosclerotic vascular disease (ASVD) (3,4). The relationship between insulin resistance and ASVD, however, is complex. On one hand, insulin resistance is associated with several established risk factors for ASVD such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, atherogenic dyslipidemia, and abnormalities of blood coagulation and fibrinolysis (5). On the other hand, these associations cannot completely explain the obesity/insulin resistance-related ASVD risk, suggesting that there may be other, as yet unidentified, ways in which insulin resistance increases this risk (6). Indeed, there are reasons to believe that insulin resistance may increase ASVD by promoting matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) activity. MMPs are enzymes with proteolytic activity against connective tissue proteins such as collagen, proteoglycans, and elastin and there is accumulating evidence suggesting that they play a key role in the development of atherosclerotic lesions (rev. in 7). For instanc...