Anti-inflammatory effect of insulin on the IKK/I'capa'B/NF-'capa'B pathway

Author(s)

Francine Cappa Mittestainer

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: Campinas, SP.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Faculdade de Ciências Médicas
• Defense date: 2011-08-23

Examining board members

Mario José Abdalla Saad; Licio Augusto Velloso; Carla Roberta de Oliveira Carvalho

• Advisor: Mario José Abdalla Saad

Abstract

Insulin infusion during acute inflammation improves clinical the outcomes but the exact mechanism of this beneficial effect is unclear. Recent studies have suggested that insulin has an anti-inflammatory effect in such a way that this hormone exhibits an inhibitory effect on the mediation of transcription of NF- kB in mononuclear cells. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the acute effects of regular insulin administration in modulation of IKK/IkB/NF-kB pathway and insulin signaling pathway (IR, IRS1 and Akt) and the DNA binding of NF-kB p65 in liver, muscle and adipose tissue of rats and also analyze the effect of treatment with insulin on macrophages of rats and the influence of PI3K and MAPK inhibitors on pathway. And finally, we analyze a phosphatase assay by using an immunoprecipitation with anti-IKKbeta antibody and PP2A phosphatase assay. For the experiment, male adult Wistar rats were divided in 4 groups. Three of them were submitted to insulin injection in the portal vein and were stimulated for 1, 3 and 5 minutes and the other group (0) was not stimulated (saline). In our results, we observed an increase in insulin-induced phosphorylation of IR, IRS1 and Akt during insulin injection in the three tissues studied. In parallel, there was a reduction in the phosphorylation of IKK and IkB after insulin stimulation. The DNA binding of NF-kB p65 in the cell nucleus showed a reduction of the IKK and IkB phosphorylation after insulin injection in liver, muscle and adipose tissue. In macrophages culture of treated with insulin and when added the specific inhibitor for PI3K and MAPK we observed an increased on phosphorylation of IKK and IkB. Our results also showed that after insulin stimulus there was an increase in PP2A phosphatase activity associated with IKK in the three tissues studied. Thus, we can suggest that insulin might induce an interaction between PP2A and IKK, which will result in more IKK dephosphorylation and thus an inhibition of this protein kinase activity, showed a possible anti-inflammatory effect of insulin (AU)