Differential blood pressure effects of oral glucose and intravenous L-arginine in healthy lean normotensive and obese hypertensive subjects

We investigated the role of insulin and glucose in the pathophysiology of hypertension associated with obesity. The comparative effects of an oral glucose load and of an L-arginine infusion on plasma glucose, plasma insulin and blood pressures (BP) were assessed in lean normotensive and in obese hypertensive males. Oral glucose (75 g in 1–2 min) induced a small but significant lowering of BP in lean normotensives, but failed to modify BP in obese hypertensives. L-arginine infusion (30 min, 500 mg/kg total dose) reduced BP; significantly greater reductions in sytolic and diastolic BP were observed in obese hypertensives than in the control group. Both oral glucose and L-arginine induced greater increases in plasma insulin in obese hypertensives than in lean normotensives. Endothelial dysfunction which accompanies the insulin resistant state of obesity, glucose intolerance and hypertension, may account for the different BP effects induced by glucose and L-arginine in obese hypertensives and lean normotensives.