Insulin resistance is associated with high sodium-lithium countertransport in essential hypertension

The nature of the association between essential hypertension and insulin resistance remains unknown. We measured plasma glucose and insulin levels after an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), as well as insulin sensitivity (using a euglycemic hyperinsulinemic clamp), glucose turnover (Rd; using [6,6-2H2]- and [3-3H]glucose isotopic dilution), and forearm net balance of glucose (using arterial-venous difference) in 22 hypertensive patients with high (H2) red blood cell (RBC) sodium-lithium countertransport (Na(+)-Li+ CT; greater than 0.41 mmol.l RBC-1.h-1), 21 hypertensive patients with normal (H1) Na(+)-Li+ CT, and 22 normotensive controls (C). After OGTT, H2 patients had higher plasma glucose and insulin levels than H1 and C. During euglycemic hyperinsulinemia (approximately 100 microU/ml) Rd was lower in H2 [21.7 +/- 1.4 (SE) mumol.kg-1.min-1] than in H1 (44.3 +/- 2.9; P less than 0.01) and C (48.1 +/- 3.0; P less than 0.01), and an inverse correlation was found between rates of Na(+)-Li+ CT and Rd in H...