Hypertension research : official journal of the Japanese Society of Hypertension
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The aim of this study was to examine the roles of muscle fiber composition, capillary density and muscle blood flow in insulin resistance (IR) and the effect of cilnidipine, a calcium channel blocker in fructose-fed rats (FFR). Six-week-old male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed either normal rat chow or fructose-rich chow for 6 weeks. For the last 2 weeks, the rats were treated by gavage with a vehicle (Control and FFR groups) or with cilnidipine (FFR+Cil group). ⋯ There were no intergroup differences in capillary density. Muscle blood flow in the FFR+Cil group was higher than that in the Control or FFR groups. These results suggest that muscle fiber composition is linked to IR and that cilnidipine may improve IR in FFR either by modulating muscle fiber composition or by increasing muscle blood flow.