Trimetazidine, a clinically effective antianginal agent with no negative inotropic or vascular properties, acts by optimizing cardiac energy metabolism through inhibition of free faty acid oxidation, shifting substrate utilization from fatty acids to glucose. Up to now there has been no study associating trimetazidine's effect on metabolic processes with glucose utilization in the mammalian brain. The objective of the present study was to determine if trimetazidine altered [3H]glucose uptake in rat brain. Adult male Wistar rats were administered trimetazidine (Metazydyna, Polfa) either as a single dose (10.0 mg/kg po) or for 14 consecutive days (5.0 mg/kg po per day) or vehicle saline (2.0 ml/kg po). Sixty minutes after the single dose or 14th dose of trimetazidine, and 15 min before experiment termination and brain dissection, 6-[3H]D-glucose (500 Ci/kg ip; Amersham) was administered. Using liquid scintillation counting, trimetazidine, either in a single or multiple dose regimen, was found to increase [3H]glucose uptake (DPM/100 mg of wet tissue) in all dissected regions of the brain (i.e., striatum, hippocampus, frontal cortex, thalamus with hypothalamus, pons with medulla oblongata, and cerebellum). Therefore, central effects need to be taken into considereation as possibly adding to known beneficial cardiac effects of trimetazidine.

The aims of this study were to evaluate the influence of an extremely low-frequency electromagnetic field (ELF-EMF) on [3H]glucose uptake in the peripheral tissues and organs of rats. Rats were exposed to ELF-EMF (frequency-10 Hz, induction -1.8-3.8 mT) one hour daily for 14 consecutive days. Control animals were sham exposed. On the 15th day (24 hours after last exposure) rats were injected with D-[3H]-6-glucose 500μCi/kg IP. Fifteen minutes later animals were sacrificed by decapitation and peripheral tissues were excised and examined for radioactivity (desintegrations per minute, DPM/ 100 mg wet tissue weight), which expressed [3H]glucose uptake. In most of the examined tissues and organs, such as liver, kidney, heart muscle, cartilage, connective tissue, tendon and skin, [3H]glucose uptake in ELF-EMF-exposed animals was significantly higher as compared to that in the sham control. Exposure to ELF-EMF did not influence [3H]glucose uptake in the thoracic aorta and the skeletal muscle. It is concluded that ELF-EMF impacts tissue glucose uptake by facilitating glucose transport via cell membranes, dependent and probably also independent of its role in increasing insulin action in insulin-dependent tissues.