Heat Shock Prevents Insulin

We have investigated the role of heat shock (HS) in preventing insulin resistance–induced endothelial dysfunction. To the best of our knowledge, we report here for the first time that insulin resistance inhibits vascular HS protein (HSP) 72 expression. HS treatment (41°C for 20 min) restored the HSP72 expression. High-fat diet (HFD)–fed, insulin-resistant rats show attenuated angiotensin (ANG)-(1-7)– induced vasodilator effect, endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) phosphorylation, AMP-activated protein kinase phosphorylation, and sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) expression. Interestingly, HS prevented this attenuation. We also provide the first evidence that HFD-fed rats show increased vascular DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) expression and tha