Heart glucose transport and transporters in rat heart: regulation by insulin,workload and glucose

Summary Aspects of the regulation of the glucose transport by perfused hearts of normal rats have been studied by measuring glucose transport (via the efflux of labelled 3-O-methyl-D-glucose) and glucose transporters (via the labelled cytochalasin B binding assay). Similary to what is observed with insulin, increasing workload (by raising perfusion pressure from 50 to 100 mm Hg) stimulated glucose transport 7 to 8-fold. Glucose (via its analog 3-O-methylglucose, used at 15 mmol/l) stimulated its own transport 4-fold. The three stimuli favored the translocation of glucose transporters from an intracellular pool (microsomes) to the plasma membrane. Insulin increased the apparent affinity (decreased dissociation constant values) of plasma membrane transporters for cytochalasin, as well as the Hill coefficient, indicating the occurrence of a positive cooperativity amongst plasma membrane transporters. Workload increased only the Hill coefficient, glucose only the apparent affinity for cytochalasin of plasma membrane transporters. This study shows that insulin, workload and glucose itself stimulate glucose transport by favouring the translocation process of glucose transporter as well as by changing, albeit by a different mechanism, the functional properties of the transporters once translocated to the plasma membrane.