Assessment of initial hexose uptake in adipocytes using the physiological substrate D-glucose. Particular relevance...

The characteristics of U-[14C]D-glucose uptake into human and rat adipocytes have been examined. The initial rates of U-[14C]D-glucose uptake were found to be linear during the first 30 s, both basally and with maximum insulin stimulation. Phloretin was shown to be effective in stopping glucose flux for human adipocytes, although rapid separation of cells from medium was found to be necessary for accurate measurement of initial rate of glucose uptake into rat adipocytes. The pH and temperature dependency of U-[14C]D-glucose uptake were found to be similar to those reported for 3-0-methylglucose. The use of U-[14C]D-glucose for assessment of initial rate of glucose uptake into human adipocytes provides results directly relevant to D-glucose metabolism, in addition to being technically less demanding and much less expensive than methods using the non-physiological sugar analogue 3-0-[14C]methylglucose.