The precise mechanisms underlying insulin-stimulated glucose transport still require investigation. Here we assessed the effect of SB203580, an inhibitor of the p38 MAP kinase family, on insulin-stimulated glucose transport in 3T3-L1 adipocytes and L6 myotubes. We found that SB203580, but not its inactive analogue (SB202474), prevented insulin-stimulated glucose transport in both cell types with an IC 50 similar to that for inhibition of p38 MAP kinase (0.6 M). Basal glucose uptake was not affected. Moreover, SB203580 added only during the transport assay did not inhibit basal or insulin-stimulated transport. SB203580 did not inhibit insulin-stimulated translocation of the glucose transporters GLUT1 or GLUT4 in 3T3-L1 adipocytes as assessed by immunoblotting of subcellular fractions or by immunofluorescence of membrane lawns. L6 muscle cells expressing GLUT4 tagged on an extracellular domain with a Myc epitope (GLUT4myc) were used to assess the functional insertion of GLUT4 into the plasma membrane. SB203580 did not affect the insulin-induced gain in GLUT4myc exposure at the cell surface but largely reduced the stimulation of glucose uptake. SB203580 had no effect on insulin-dependent insulin receptor substrate-1 phosphorylation, association of the p85 subunit of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase with insulin receptor substrate-1, nor on phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase, Akt1, Akt2, or Akt3 activities in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. In conclusion, in the presence of SB203580, insulin caused normal translocation and cell surface membrane insertion of glucose transporters without stimulating glucose transport. We propose that insulin stimulates two independent signals contributing to stimulation of glucose transport: phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase leads to glucose transporter translocation and a pathway involving p38 MAP kinase leads to activation of the recruited glucose transporter at the membrane.

Hypoxia caused a progressive cytochalasin B-inhibitable increase in the rate of 3-O-methylglucose transport in rat epitrochlearis muscles to a level approximately six-fold above basal. Muscle ATP concentration was well maintained during hypoxia, and increased glucose transport activity was still present after 15 min of reoxygenation despite repletion of phosphocreatine. However, the increase in glucose transport activity completely reversed during a 180-min-long recovery in oxygenated medium. In perfused rat hindlimb muscles, hypoxia caused an increase in glucose transporters in the plasma membrane, suggesting that glucose transporter translocation plays a role in the stimulation of glucose transport by hypoxia. The maximal effects of hypoxia and insulin on glucose transport activity were additive, whereas the effects of exercise and hypoxia were not, providing evidence suggesting that hypoxia and exercise stimulate glucose transport by the same mechanism. Caffeine, at a concentration too low to cause muscle contraction or an increase in glucose transport by itself, markedly potentiated the effect of a submaximal hypoxic stimulus on sugar transport. Dantrolene significantly inhibited the hypoxia-induced increase in 3-O-methylglucose transport. These effects of caffeine and dantrolene suggest that Ca2+ plays a role in the stimulation of glucose transport by hypoxia.

Insulin causes a translocation of glucose transporters from intracellular microsomes to the plasma membrane in adipocytes. To determine whether insulin has a similar effect in rat hindlimb muscles, we used glucose-inhibitable cytochalasin B binding to estimate the number of glucose transporters in membrane fractions from insulinized and control muscles. Insulin treatment caused an approx. 2-fold increase in cytochalasin B-binding sites in a plasma membrane fraction and an approx. 70% decrease in cytochalasin B-binding sites in an intracellular membrane fraction. In order to detect this effect of insulin, it was necessary to develop a procedure for isolating a plasma membrane fraction and an intracellular membrane fraction that were not contaminated with sarcoplasmic reticulum. Our results show that, as in adipocytes, insulin stimulates translocation of glucose transporters from an intracellular membrane pool to the plasma membrane in hindlimb skeletal muscles.Glucose transport; Insulin action; (Skeletal muscle)

D-Glucose protectable cytochalasin B (CB) binding to subcellular membrane fractions was used to determine glucose transporter number in red (quadriceps-gastrocnemius-soleus) and white (quadriceps-gastrocnemius) rat muscle. CB binding was twofold higher in isolated plasma membranes of red than of white muscle. In contrast, the number of transporters in an isolated insulin-sensitive intracellular membrane organelle was similar in the two muscle groups. Immunoblotting and immunofluorescence microscopy with anti-GLUT4 and anti-GLUT1 antibodies indicated that both GLUT1 and GLUT4 transporter isoforms account for the higher abundance of CB binding sites in plasma membranes of red than of white muscle. Immunofluorescence localized GLUT4 to both the surface and the interior of the muscle cell and demonstrated that type I (slow twitch oxidative) and type IIa (fast twitch oxidative-glycolytic) fibers are enriched in GLUT4 protein compared with type IIb (fast twitch glycolytic) fibers. In contrast, GLUT1 reactivity was restricted to the surface of the muscle cell and was also highly enriched in the perineurial sheaths of peripheral nerves and the capsules of muscle spindles present in both red and white muscles. Insulin caused a twofold increase in CB binding in isolated plasma membranes of red or white muscles with a corresponding 40-50% decrease in CB binding in isolated intracellular membranes. These changes in CB binding were paralleled by similar changes in the membrane distribution of the GLUT4 glucose transporter isoform and in glucose transport activity measured after insulin perfusion of hindquarter muscles. In contrast, insulin did not change the distribution of either GLUT1 glucose transporters or Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase alpha 1-subunits. The molar ratio of GLUT4 to GLUT1 in red and white muscle plasma membranes was found to be 4:1 in the basal state and 7:1 in the insulin-stimulated state. These results indicate that red muscle contains a higher amount of GLUT1 and GLUT4 transporters at the plasma membrane than white muscle in the basal and insulin-stimulated states but that GLUT4 translocation does not differ between muscle types. In addition, GLUT4 expression correlates with the metabolic nature (oxidative vs. glycolytic) of skeletal muscle fibers, rather than with their contractile properties (slow twitch vs. fast twitch).

The stress-activated p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) was recently shown to be activated by insulin in muscle and adipose cells in culture. Here, we explore whether such stimulation is observed in rat skeletal muscle and whether muscle contraction can also affect the enzyme. Insulin injection (2 U over 3.5 min) resulted in increases in p38 MAPK phosphorylation measured in soleus (3.2-fold) and quadriceps (2.2-fold) muscles. Increased phosphorylation (3.5-fold) of an endogenous substrate of p38 MAPK, cAMP response element binder (CREB), was also observed. After in vivo insulin treatment, p38 MAPK␣ and p38 MAPK␤ isoforms were found to be activated (2.1-and 2.4-fold, respectively), using an in vitro kinase assay, in immunoprecipitates from quadriceps muscle extracts. In vitro insulin treatment (1 nmol/l over 4 min) and electrically-induced contraction of isolated extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscle also doubled the kinase activity of p38 MAPK␣ and p38 MAPK␤. The activity of both isoforms was inhibited in vitro by 10 µmol/l SB203580 in all muscles. To explore the possible participation of p38 MAPK in the stimulation of glucose uptake, EDL and soleus muscles were exposed to increasing doses of SB203580 before and during stimulation by insulin or contraction. SB203580 caused a significant reduction in the insulin-or contractionstimulated 2-deoxyglucose uptake. Maximal inhibition (50-60%) occurred with 10 µmol/l SB203580. These results show that p38 MAPK␣ and -␤ isoforms are activated by insulin and contraction in skeletal muscle. The data further suggest that activation of p38 MAPK may participate in the stimulation of glucose uptake by both stimuli in rat skeletal muscle.