The role of nitric oxide in the regulation of skeletal muscle glucose uptake during exercise

当肌肉处于休息状态时，它会从血液中吸收和使用葡萄糖。当肌肉受到刺激收缩时，它会增加葡萄糖的使用量，从而在一定程度上为收缩提供能量。这些事实早在几十年前就已为人所知，但与葡萄糖从血液进入骨骼肌有关的肌肉信号仍然知之甚少。最近，一种新的潜在的骨骼肌葡萄糖摄取调节因子浮出水面。一氧化氮(NO)参与血液流动、神经传递和免疫功能，是肌肉在静息和运动中摄取葡萄糖的必要成分。我们已经证明，阻止肌肉NO的产生大大减少了运动过程中腿部葡萄糖的摄取。该项目的目的是验证这一发现，并确定这一结果背后的机制。我们打算这样做的一种方法是观察一种增加NO影响的药物(伟哥)是否会在休息和运动时增加肌肉对葡萄糖的摄取。在老鼠身上，一种几乎与伟哥相同的药物可以刺激肌肉摄取葡萄糖。如果伟哥被证明可以增加葡萄糖摄取，这一信息可能会为开发降低糖尿病患者血糖水平的新药提供必要的初步人类数据。

When a muscle is at rest it takes up and uses glucose from the blood. When that muscle is stimulated to contract it increases its glucose use to provide, in part, the energy for that contraction. These facts have been known for decades but the muscle signals involved with the movement of glucose from the blood into skeletal muscle remain poorly understood. Very recently, a new potential regulator of skeletal muscle glucose uptake has surfaced. Nitric oxide (NO), which has been shown to participate in blood flow, nerve transmission and immune function, appears to be a necessary component for muscle glucose uptake at rest and during exercise. We have shown that blocking muscle NO production substantially reduces leg glucose uptake during exercise. The aim of this project is to verify this finding and to determine the mechanisms underlying this result. One way we intend to do this is to see whether a drug (Viagra) which increases the effects of NO, raises muscle glucose uptake at rest and during exercise. In rats, a drug almost identical to Viagra stimulates muscle glucose uptake. If Viagra is shown to increase glucose uptake this information may provide the initial human data necessary to develop new drugs to lower blood glucose levels in people with diabetes.