Effects of in vitro and in vivo exposure to insulin upon glucose carbon accumulation in rat aorta: different patterns of response for intima-media and adventitia.

We have studied the effect of insulin upon the accumulation of glucose carbon into the intima-media and the adventitia of rat aorta following in vitro exposure by adding insulin to the incubation medium, and in vivo exposure by producing relative hyperinsulinemia during life and subsequently incubating excised tissue in a medium containing no insulin. Hyperinsulinemia in vivo was either (1) endogenous--following 1.5-2 hr of refeeding after a 48-hr fast--or (2) exogenous--following an i.v. injection of insulin. For adventitia, a significant stimulation was found after both in vitro (+ 53%, p < 0.001) and in vivo exposure to insulin (+ 96%, p < 0.01 with endogenous insulin; + 75%, p < 0.05 with a dosage of 2 U/kg of exogenous insulin). For intima-media, the stimulation was weak and insignificant after in vitro exposure (+ 11%, p > 0.30), but became important and significant after in vivo exposure to insulin (+ 100%, p < 0.001 with endogenous insulin; + 50%, p < 0.05 with a dosage of 0.5 U/kg and + 49%, p < 0.05 with a dosage of 2 U/kg of exogenous insulin). For the in vivo exposure experiments, we found a significant linear correlation (r = 0.611, p < 0.005) between plasma insulin concentrations and glucose carbon accumulations into intima-medias of control and refed rats. These results establish the insulin sensitivity of the adventitia and show a sensitivity of intima-media only to in vivo insulin exposure. These different behaviors of intima-media in vivo and in vitro may have a hemodynamic basis.