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Glucose Uptake Measurement and Response to Insulin Stimulation in In Vitro Cultured Human Primary Myotubes
Published on: June 25, 2017
Effect of exendin-4 treatment upon glucose uptake parameters in rat liver and muscle, in normal and type 2 diabetic
Luis Arnés1, Paola Moreno, Bernardo Nuche-Berenguer
1Department of Metabolism, Nutrition and Hormones, Fundación Jiménez Díaz, Avda. Reyes Católicos 2, 28040-Madrid, Spain.
Abstract:
Exendin-4, like GLP-1, is insulinotropic, antidiabetic and glucoregulatory among other properties, which are thought to be exerted through the pancreatic GLP-1 receptor; exendin-4 is also an agonist of the GLP-1 stimulatory action upon liver and muscle glucose metabolism, where GLP-1 receptor is distinct from that in the pancreas. We investigated the action of prolonged treatment with exendin-4 upon glucose transport parameters in skeletal muscle and liver of normal rats and streptozotocin-induced type 2 diabetic rats (T2D). Muscle of T2D showed lower than normal glucose transport; exendin-4 did not modify the value in normal but normalized that in the T2D; unlike previously detected with GLP-1, no apparent modification was observed in GLUT-4 expression in either group after exendin-4, except for an increased GLUT-4 protein in normal rats. Yet, exendin-4 significantly stimulated liver GLUT-2-mRNA and -protein in T2D and normal rats, the effect upon GLUT-2-protein in T2D being higher than that in normal animals; this was accompanied by a normalizing action of exendin-4 upon the lower than normal liver glycogen in T2D rats. These data suggest that the liver may represent at least one of the major target organs for exendin-4 to exert its plasma lowering effect in diabetic state.
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