Glutamate permeability at the blood-brain barrier in insulinopenic and insulin-resistant rats

The influence of diabetes on brain glutamate (GLU) uptake was studied in insulinopenic (streptozotocin [STZ]) and insulin-resistant (diet-induced obesity [DIO]) rat models of diabetes. In the STZ study, adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were treated with STZ (65 mg/kg intravenously) or vehicle and studied 3 weeks later. The STZ rats had elevated plasma levels of glucose, ketone bodies, and branched-chain amino acids; brain uptake of GLU was very low in both STZ and control rats, examined under conditions of normal and greatly elevated (by intravenous infusion) plasma GLU concentrations. In the DIO study, rats ingested a palatable, high-energy diet for 2 weeks and were then divided into weight …