Comparative effects of IGF-I and insulin on the glucose transporter system in rat muscle

The acute effect of insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) and insulin on glucose uptake and the glucose transport system in in vitro incubated rat soleus muscles was examined using 3-O-methylglucose and the ATB-[3H]BMPA exofacial photolabeling technique. IGF-I and insulin both stimulated 3-O-methylglucose uptake and GLUT-4 translocation in a dose-dependent manner with a maximal effect six- to sevenfold above basal. No additive effects of IGF-I and insulin on maximal 3-O-methylglucose uptake were found. On a molar basis, IGF-I was 13 times less potent than insulin. Receptor binding experiments showed that IGF-I exhibited a much lower affinity for the insulin receptor [half-maximal effective dose (ED50) = 28.5 nM] than that of insulin (ED50 = 0.20 nM). In contrast, IGF-I bound to the partially purified IGF-I receptor with an apparent affinity (ED50 = 3.7 nM) that was similar to the concentrations of IGF-I which caused half-maximal activation of 3-O-methylglucose uptake (ED50 = 2.4 nM) and GLUT-4 translocation (ED50 = 2.5 nM). Our findings suggest that IGF-I exerts its insulin-like effects on glucose uptake primarily through its own specific receptor and that the molecular events underlying IGF-I and insulin actions on glucose uptake in skeletal muscle are similar, namely caused by a translocation of the GLUT-4 transporter from an intracellular pool to the cell surface.