Glucose transporter gene expression in rat conceptus during early organogenesis and exposure to insulin-induced hypoglycemic serum

We investigated the glucose transporter gene and protein expression during early organogenesis in the rat and in rat embryos cultured with hypoglycemic serum. Erythrocyte-type glucose transporter (GLUT-1) mRNA was expressed at a high level in embryos; peak levels were reached at days 10.5–11.5 and decreased as gestational age increased. In contrast, the insulin regulaable glucose transporter (GLUT-4) mRNA was not detected. The levels of GLUT-1 protein determined by Western blot analysis increased in parallel with expression of the glucose transporter (GLUT-1) gene and peak levels were observed on days 10.5 and 11.5, which correspond to the main periods of neural tube formation. Immunohistochemical staining of the embryo on day 10.5 showed that GLUT-1 protein was abundantly located in the tissue of neural tube. When embryos were cultured from day 9.5 to day 10.5 with insulin-induced hypoglycemic serum containing 2–3 mM glucose an increased frequency of anterior neural tube defects was observed in association with a significant reduction of the glycolytic flux. Increased levels of GLUT-1 mRNA and protein were not observed during the culture with hypoglycemic serum compared with the levels in embryos cultured in normal serum. Addition of insulin to normal serum (500 U/ml) did not affect the GLUT-1 mRNA and protein levels. GLUT-1 mRNA and protein are strongly expressed in the embryo during early organogenesis, especially in the tissues of the neural tube, and the expression of the glucose transporter did not increase in response to prolonged glycopenia. This may account for the vulnerability of embryogenesis to hypoglycemia during these critical developmental periods.