Skeletal muscle-specific overexpression of heat shock protein 72 improves skeletal muscle insulin-stimulated glucose uptake but does not alter whole body metabolism.

At the levels of Hsp72 over-expression reported herein, skeletal muscle-specific Hsp72 overexpression via IM injection has the capacity to increase insulin-stimulated glucose clearance in this muscle. However, upon systemic injection, which results in lower muscle Hsp72 overexpression, no beneficial effects on whole-body metabolism are observed.