Diet high in lipid hydroperoxide by vitamin E deficiency induces insulin resistance and impaired insulin secretion in normal rats

To clarify the effect of dietary lipid hydroperoxide (LPO) on development of glucose intolerance, we fed Sprague–Dawley rats on a diet containing elevated LPO level for 10 weeks and measured both insulin sensitivity and insulin secretion. The contents of LPO in both plasma and skeletal muscle in the LPO-fed rats were significantly higher than those in the controls. Both insulin resistance evaluated by steady-state blood glucose (SSBG) methods and impaired insulin secretion evaluated by oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) were found in the LPO-fed rats as compared with control rats. Furthermore, the levels of insulin receptor substrate (IRS)-1 protein in the skeletal muscle were significantly lower in the LPO-fed rats. Those impairments were not reversed in LPO-fed rats with supernormal levels of plasma vitamin E following vitamin E supplementation for 5 weeks. Moreover, the immunohistochemical study revealed that NF-κB-p50 protein was found in the nucleus of pancreatic β-cells of the LPO-fed rats, whereas it was not observed in the nucleus of the islets in the control rats. These findings indicate that NF-κB is activated in response to oxidative stress in pancreatic islet cells in LPO-fed rats. In conclusion, our studies reveal that diet high in LPO by vitamin E deficiency accelerates glucose intolerance through impairments of both sensitivity and secretion of insulin.