Description of glucose transport in isolated bovine mammary epithelial cells by a three-compartment model

Initial rates of glucose entry into isolated bovine mammary epithelial cells display moderate degrees of asymmetry and cooperative interactions between export and import sites. The present study examined the hypothesis that these kinetic features are due to compartmentalization of intracellular glucose. Net uptake of 3-O-methyl-d-[1-(3)H]glucose (3-OMG) by isolated bovine mammary epithelial cells was measured at 37 degrees C. The time course of 3-OMG net uptake was better fitted by a double-exponential equation than by a single- or triple-exponential equation. Compartmental analysis of the time course curve suggested that translocated 3-OMG is distributed into two compartments with fractional volumes of 32.6 +/- 5.7% and 67.4 +/- 5.7%, respectively. The results support the view that glucose transport in bovine mammary epithelial cells is a multistep process consisting of two serial steps: fast, carrier-mediated, symmetric translocation of sugar across the cell plasma membrane into a small compartment and subsequent slow exchange of posttranslocated sugar between two intracellular compartments. A three-compartment model of this system successfully simulated the observed time course of 3-OMG net uptake and the observed dependence of unidirectional entry rates on intra- and extracellular 3-OMG concentrations. Simulations indicated that backflux of radiolabeled sugar from the small compartment to extracellular space during 15 s of incubation gives rise to the apparent asymmetry, trans-stimulation, and cooperativity of mammary glucose transport kinetics. The fixed-site carrier model overestimated the rate of glucose accumulation in cells, and its features can be accounted for by the compartmentalization of intracellular sugar.