1.
Carteolol, a non-selective beta-blocker with intrinsic
sympathomimetic activity, admixed in a pellet diet was administered to Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima Fatty (OLETF) rats, an animal model of spontaneous
non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus with mild
obesity. A high dose of
carteolol (0.02%) suppressed bodyweight gain without affecting food and water consumption until the appearance of
glycosuria.
Carteolol tended to reduce the cumulative incidence of
glycosuria at 26 weeks after the beginning of administration (55, 17 and 25% in control rats, and in rats fed a low (0.002%) and high dose of
carteolol, respectively). 2. At the 26th week of administration, the high dose of
carteolol decreased visceral fat weight, such as that of retroperitoneal and epididymal adipose tissue, whereas the liver and the kidney were not affected. 3. Although plasma
glucose and
triglyceride levels in non-fasted rats were elevated with age,
carteolol tended to delay the increases in those parameters.
Carteolol suppressed the increase in plasma
glucose levels, which indicate the diabetic pattern, in a 25th week oral
glucose tolerance test. 4. These findings indicate that
carteolol induces improvements in bodyweight and
carbohydrate and lipid metabolism in an obese condition. Consequently,
carteolol may be useful for the treatment of
hypertension with
obesity in order to prevent cardiovascular events.