Figure 1.

Reductions in glucose handling are exacerbated when elevated glucocorticoids and obesity are combined. Mouse blood glucose levels during (A) ITT and (B) prior to insulin injection (basal). Insulin was given via IP injection at a concentration of 2.5 U/kg following 5 weeks of dexamethasone (NCD, n = 12; HFD, n = 12) or vehicle (NCD, n = 12; HFD, n = 12) treatment and 17 weeks of diet. Mouse (C) glucose infusion rate, (D) EGP, (E) insulin suppression of glucose production, and (F) glucose turnover rate during euglycemic clamp following 3 weeks of dexamethasone (n = 14) or vehicle (n = 11) treatment and 11 weeks of HFD. For clamp experiments, insulin was infused at 8 mU/kg/min following a prime continuous infusion of 40 mU/kg bolus. All mice were fasted for 5 to 6 hours prior to experiments. Plus symbols indicate a significant interaction between diet and treatment. Asterisks indicate a statistically significant treatment effect for the pairwise comparison. NS, not significant.