The increasing number of people in advanced countries suffers from a cluster of associated metabolic disorders that are collectively termed metabolic syndrome and that include hypertension, glucose intolerance, hyperinsulinemia, hypertridyceridemia, and obesity. Not only insulin but also glucocorticoids strongly influence metabolism of nutrients, we therefore studied their local metabolism represented by 11bhydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (11HSD) activity in rat liver, a glucocorticoid target organ. For our study we used liver tissue from Prague hypertriglyceridemic rats (HTG) on standard diet, HTG on fructose diet (HTG+Fru) and normotriglyceridemic Wistar rats to determine activities and mRNA levels of 11bhydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11HSD1). In addition, we measured mRNA levels of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK), which expression is stimulated by glucocorticoids. The activity and mRNA level of 11HSD1 were higher in HTG than in Wistar rats but stimulation of hypertriglyceridamia in HTG+Fru was not associated with further up-regulation of 11HSD1. In contrast to 11HSD1 mRNA the levels of PEPCK mRNA in HTG and HTG+Fru were down-regulated. The results indicate that the local concentration of glucocorticoids is increased in HTG rats but that the stimulation of gluconeogenic pathway seems to be suppressed these animals.