The imaging of phosphorescence provides a method for monitoring oxygen distribution within the vascular system of intact tissues. Isolated rat lives were perfused through the portal vein with media containing palladium coproporphyrin, which phosphoresced and was used to image the liver at various perfusion rates. Because oxygen is a powerful quenching agent for phosphors, the transition from well-perfused liver to anoxia (no flow of oxygen) resulted in large increases of phosphorescence. During stepwise restoration of oxygen flow, the phosphorescence images showed marked heterogeneous patterns of tissue reoxygenation, which indicated that there were regional inequalities in oxygen delivery.

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It is hypothesized that glucokinase (GCK) is the glucose sensor not only for regulation of insulin release by pancreatic β-cells, but also for the rest of the cells that contribute to glucose homeostasis in mammals. This includes other cells in endocrine pancreas (α- and δ-cells), adrenal gland, glucose sensitive neurons, entero-endocrine cells, and cells in the anterior pituitary. Glucose transport is by facilitated diffusion and is not rate limiting. Once inside, glucose is phosphorylated to glucose-6-phosphate by GCK in a reaction that is dependent on glucose throughout the physiological range of concentrations, is irreversible, and not product inhibited. High glycerol phosphate shuttle, pyruvate dehydrogenase, and pyruvate carboxylase activities, combined with low pentose-P shunt, lactate dehydrogenase, plasma membrane monocarboxylate transport, and glycogen synthase activities constrain glucose-6-phosphate to being metabolized through glycolysis. Under these conditions, glycolysis produces mostly pyruvate and little lactate. Pyruvate either enters the citric acid cycle through pyruvate dehydrogenase or is carboxylated by pyruvate carboxylase. Reducing equivalents from glycolysis enter oxidative phosphorylation through both the glycerol phosphate shuttle and citric acid cycle. Raising glucose concentration increases intramitochondrial [NADH]/[NAD+] and thereby the energy state ([ATP]/[ADP][Pi]), decreasing [Mg2+ADP] and [AMP]. [Mg2+ADP] acts through control of KATP channel conductance, whereas [AMP] acts through regulation of AMP-dependent protein kinase. Specific roles of different cell types are determined by the diverse molecular mechanisms used to couple energy state to cell specific responses. Having a common glucose sensor couples complementary regulatory mechanisms into a tightly regulated and stable glucose homeostatic network.

Simultaneous measurements of the mitochondrial [NAD+]/[NADH], the cytoplasmic [ATP]/[ADP] x [Pi], and the respiratory rate were carried out in suspensions of cultured kidney cells in a range of defined oxygen tensions. The results show that as the extracellular oxygen concentration falls there is a decrease in the respiratory rate, which is accompanied by a decrease in the [ATP]/[ADP] and a progressive reduction of cytochrome c. Even at low O2 tensions the mitochondrial respiratory chain between the NAD couple and cytochrome c remains at near equilibrium with the ATP synthesizing reactions. It is concluded that limited oxygen supply affects cellular metabolism at much higher concentrations than the P50 value for the oxygen dependence of respiration, but the respiratory rate remains relatively unchanged due to compensatory changes in the [ATP]/[ADP] X [Pi] and progressive reduction of cytochrome c. These metabolic changes may form a basis for the phenomenon of tissue oxygen sensing at near physiological oxygen tensions.

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