Effect of physical training on glucose transporter protein and mRNA levels in rat adipocytes

Physical training increases insulin-stimulated glucose transport and the number of glucose transporters in adipocytes measured by cytochalasin B binding. In the present study we used immunoblotting to measure the abundance of two glucose transporters (GLUT-4, GLUT-1) in white adipocytes from trained rats. Furthermore, the abundance of the mRNAs for these proteins and glucose transport was measured. Rats were swim-trained for 10 wk, and adipocytes were isolated from epididymal fat pads. The amount of GLUT-4/adipocyte volume unit was significantly higher in trained animals compared with both age- and cell size-matched animals. The amount of GLUT-4 mRNA was also increased by training and it decreased with increasing age. Furthermore, young age as well as training was accompanied by relatively low GLUT-4 protein/mRNA and relatively high overall GLUT-4 efficiency (recruitability and/or intrinsic activity). GLUT-1 protein and mRNA levels/adipocyte volume did not change with age or training.