The role of inflammation in diabetic retinal amage is well accepted. While a number of cytokines and inflammatory mediators are responsible for these changes, upstream regulators are less well studied. Additionally, the role for these upstream mediators in retinal health is unclear. In this study, we hypothesized that inhibition of high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) could restore normal insulin ...

OBJECTIVE Contraction of cardiac myocytes is initiated by Ca(2+) entry through the voltage-dependent L-type Ca(2+) channel (LTCC). Previous studies have shown that phosphatidylinositol (PI) 3-kinase signaling modulates LTCC function. Because PI 3-kinases are key mediators of insulin action, we investigated whether LTCC function is affected in diabetic animals due to reduced PI 3-kinase signalin...

The insulin-like growth factor (IGF) pathway is thought to play an important role in brain development. Altered levels of IGFs and their signaling regulators have been shown in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) patients. In this study, we investigated whether coding region single-nucleotide polymorphisms (cSNPs) of the insulin receptor substrates (IRS1 and IRS2), key mediators of the IGF pathway, ...

The global epidemics of obesity during pregnancy and excessive gestational weight gain (GWG) are major public health problems worldwide. Obesity and excessive GWG are related to several maternal and fetal complications, including diabetes (pregestational and gestational diabetes) and intrauterine programming of insulin resistance (IR). Maternal obesity (MO) and neonatal IR are associated with l...

The systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) is triggered by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from Gram-negative bacteria. Insulin was shown to have a protective role in SIRS related to sepsis. Lungs are particularly affected in this condition and provide a second wave of mediators/cytokines which amplifies SIRS. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of insulin on the signali...