Research
Hormonal
High intramyocellular lipid (IMCL) levels blunt early insulin signaling steps, specifically reducing insulin receptor (IR) tyrosine phosphorylation and IRS-1-associated PI 3-kinase activity.
High muscle fat content interferes with the molecular signals insulin uses to tell cells to take up glucose. This happens at the very first steps of the insulin signal (receptor phosphorylation).
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Insulin-induced tyrosine phosphorylation of the insulin receptor (IR) was blunted in HiIMCL compared with LoIMCL... IR substrate-1–associated phosphatidylinositol (PI) 3-kinase activation by insulin was also lower in the HiIMCL group than in the LoIMCL group.
Why this rating
Direct measurement of signaling proteins via Western blotting and kinase assays in muscle biopsies provides high-quality mechanistic data.
Source
Intramyocellular Lipid Is Associated With Resistance to In Vivo Insulin Actions on Glucose Uptake, Antilipolysis, and Early Insulin Signaling Pathways in Human Skeletal Muscle
Antti Virkamäki et al. · Diabetes · 2001
DOI 10.2337/diabetes.50.10.2337
cross_sectional · n=20Cited 257×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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