Skeletal muscle accounts for a large proportion of insulinstimulated glucose utilization. It is generally regarded that much of the control over rates of uptake is posited within the proximal steps of delivery, transport, and phosphorylation of glucose, with glucose transport as the main locus of control. Whether insulin modulates the distribution of control across these steps and in what manner remains uncertain. The current study addressed this in vivo using dynamic positron emission tomography (PET 18 F]FDG was also similar between muscle during fasting, and glucose transport was found to be the dominant locus of control (90%) for glucose uptake under this condition. Insulin increased uptake of [ 11 C]3-OMG substantially and strongly stimulated the kinetics of bidirectional glucose transport. Uptake of [ 11 C]3-OMG was higher in soleus than tibialis anterior muscle (by 22%; P < 0.01), a difference partially due to higher delivery, which was again found to be 35% higher to soleus (P < 0.01). The uptake of [ 18 F]FDG was 65% greater in soleus compared with tibialis anterior muscle, a larger difference than for [ 11 C]3-OMG (P < 0.01), indicating an added importance of glucose phosphorylation in defining insulin sensitivity. Analysis of the distribution of control during insulinstimulated conditions revealed that most of the control was posited at delivery and transport and was equally divided between these steps. Thus, insulin evokes a broader distribution of control than during fasting conditions in governing glucose uptake into skeletal muscle. This redistribution of control is triggered by the robust stimulation of glucose transport, which in turn unmasks a greater dependence upon delivery and glucose phosphorylation. Diabetes 55:3028 -3037, 2006 I nsulin accelerates the clearance of glucose from plasma into tissues. Uptake of glucose into skeletal muscle is a powerful determinant of this systemic effect (1,2). It is generally considered that much of the control of rates of glucose uptake into skeletal muscle is posited at the proximal steps of glucose delivery, transport, and phosphorylation (3-6) and that among these, stimulation of GLUT4 translocation by insulin is pivotal. Because only slight accumulation of free glucose occurs within muscle during insulin-stimulated conditions, it is cited as clear support for transport as the dominant locus of control rather than more distal steps (5,7-9). However, an absence of glucose accumulation could also be consistent with constraint (and hence rate control) proximal to glucose transport, at glucose delivery (10). There is a general conceptual paradigm regarding what primarily determines control manifest by substrate delivery, and this concerns tissue permeability for a substrate (11). When permeability is low, and with regard to muscle, glucose transport capacity can be considered to represent a permeability factor; rates of delivery should have only minor influence, and, conversely, increases of permeability should proportionately increase control manifest by d...