Robert J. Pollet

Regulation of glucose transport by pioglitazone in cultured muscle cells

Recent evidence suggests that pioglitazone, a thiazolidinedione hypoglycemic agent, acts by increasing insulin responsiveness at the peripheral level. We studied the effect of pioglitazone (1 to 50 micrograms/mL) on the glucose transporter and glucose transport in BC3H-1 cells, a continuously cultured skeletal muscle cell line lacking the myoD transcription factor required for cell fusion. Glucose-fed cells (25 mmol/L) responded to insulin with a more than twofold increase in 2-deoxyglucose (2-DOG) uptake as compared with baseline. Treating these cells with pioglitazone alone for 24 hours resulted in a dose-dependent increase in hexose uptake, reaching twofold at 50 micrograms/mL. Combining long-term pioglitazone (10 micrograms/mL for 24 hours) and short-term insulin treatment resulted in an additive effect on 2-DOG uptake over a wide range of insulin concentrations (0.1 to 100 nmol/L) without the desensitization to 2-DOG uptake seen in other systems following long-term insulin administration. To determine the basis of the increased glucose uptake response, the level of specific mRNA and immunoreactive glucose transporter protein was determined. Northern and Western blot studies on glucose-treated cells (25 mmol/L) showed that glucose transporter mRNA and protein increased in parallel following treatment with either pioglitazone or insulin alone. The combination of insulin with pioglitazone resulted in an additive stimulation of glucose transporter mRNA and protein. In summary, pioglitazone stimulates hexose uptake both independently and in combination with insulin in BC3H-1 myocytes. These effects are largely accounted for by increases in glucose transporter mRNA and protein, indicating its potential efficacy in the treatment of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Direct Effects of Sulfonylurea Agents on Glucose Transport in the BC3H-1 Myocyte

The actions of sulfonylurea agents to increase peripheral glucose disposal have been classically ascribed to an ability to potentiate insulin action. However, in the BC3H-1 cultured muscle cell, tolbutamide, glipizide, and glyburide directly provoked more than a twofold increase in 2-deoxyglucose (2-DG) uptake in a dose-dependent manner in the absence of insulin. Tolbutamide (3 mM) enhanced 2-DG uptake by 130% in the presence or absence of insulin and did not significantly change insulin binding or the sensitivity of the insulin response. The onset of tolbutamidestimulated hexose transport was seen after 30 min and reached a plateau after 12 h. Tolbutamide-stimulated glucose transport was associated with a twofold increase in the Vmax of 2-DG uptake and was completely blocked by 50 μM cytochalasin B, indicating that this action is mediated by increase in cell membrane glucose transporters. We show that sulfonylureas at therapeutic concentrations directly increase glucose transport into muscle cells. Because muscle is the major peripheral target tissue for glucose disposal, these results provide the basis for the therapeutic effect of these agents in improving peripheral glucose disposal in insulin-resistant type II (non-insulindependent) diabetes mellitus.

Effects of insulin and phorbol esters on diacylglycerol generation and synthesis and hydrolysis of phosphatidylcholine in BC3H-1 myocytes.

Insulin was found to provoke simultaneous, rapid, biphasic increases in [3H]choline-labeling of phosphatidylcholine and phosphocholine in BC3H-1 myocytes. Phorbol esters increased [3H]choline-labeling of phosphocholine, but not phosphatidylcholine. Both agonists increased diacylglycerol production. These results suggest that: (a) insulin provokes coordinated increases in the synthesis and hydrolysis of PC; and, (b) insulin-induced activation of protein kinase C may activate a PC-specific phospholipase.

Sulfonylurea-Stimulated Glucose Transport Association With Diacylglycerollike Activation of Protein Kinase C in BC3H1 Myocytes

The extrapancreatic effects of sulfonylurea drugs include increased glucose uptake by certain peripheral tissues. To study this effect, we used BC3H1 myocytes, which are reported to respond to these drugs. Within 30 min, tolbutamide and glyburide increased [3H]-2-deoxyglucose uptake in a dose-dependent manner. The inactive analogue carboxytolbutamide had no effect on glucose transport. Because increases in glucose transport may be mediated by activation of the diacylglycerol-protein kinase C signaling system, we examined the effects of these drugs on lipid metabolism and protein kinase C activity. Unlike insulin, tolbutamide and glyburide failed to increase [3H]glycerol labeling of diacylglycerol or labeling of phospholipids by 32P. After 30 min of treatment with tolbutamide or glyburide, however, membraneassociated and cytosolic protein kinase C activity were each increased. When cells were treated with 12-O- tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) for 48 h to deplete certain isoforms of protein kinase C, glyburide, tolbutamide, and acute TPA treatment failed to increase glucose uptake, suggesting that TPA and sulfonylureas operate through activation of a common pathway. The effect of glyburide was additive to TPA in stimulating glucose uptake at low but not high TPA concentrations. As with insulin and TPA, extracellular Ca2+ was not essential for sulfonylurea-stimulated glucose uptake. Staurosporine, a protein kinase C inhibitor, blocked glyburide-, tolbutamide-, and insulinstimulated glucose uptake. In intact cells, glyburide stimulated the phosphorylation of both 80,000-Mr and 40,000-Mr proteins, which are markers for protein kinase C activation. Addition of sulfonylureas directly to the protein kinase C assay system in vitro provoked dioleinlike effects, in that sensitivity of the enzyme to Ca2+ was increased. Our findings suggest that tolbutamide and glyburide increase glucose uptake in BC3H1 myocytes by a postreceptor mechanism, which may involve direct activation of protein kinase C.

Insulin but not phorbol ester treatment increases phosphorylation of vinculin by protein kinase C in BC3H-1 myocytes

Insulin was found to increase protein kinase C activity in BC3H‐1 myocytes as determined by in vitro phosphorylation of both a lysine‐rich histone fraction (histone III‐S) and vinculin. TPA treatment for 20 min or 18 h provoked an apparent loss of histone‐directed but not vinculin‐directed phosphorylation by cytosolic C‐kinase. Thus, chronic TPA‐induced ‘desensitization’ or ‘depletion’ of cellular protein kinase C is more apparent than real, and is not a valid means for evaluating the role of C‐kinase in hormone action.

Further evidence implicating diacylglycerol generation and protein kinase C activation in agonist-induced increases in glucose uptake: insulin-like effects of phenylephrine in BC3H-1 myocytes

We have previously suggested that insulin effects on 2-deoxyglucose (2-DOG) uptake in BC3H-1 myocytes are due to increases in de novo phospholipid synthesis, diacylglycerol generation, and protein kinase C activation. To test this hypothesis further, we examined the effects of phenylephrine, an agonist that increases diacylglycerol and protein kinase C activity through phospholipase C activation. As evidence for phospholipase activation in BC3H-1 myocytes, we found that phenylephrine increased 7) acute 32PO4 incorporation into phosphatidic acid and phosphatidylinositol, 2) generation of [3H]inositol phosphates from prelabeled [3H]inositol phospholipids, 3) cytosolic Ca2+, and 4) membrane-bound protein kinase C. Phenylephrine also provoked dose-related increases in [3H]-DOG uptake that were similar in magnitude and time course to those induced by insulin. As with insulin, phenylephrine effects on 2-DOG uptake were not apparent in myocytes that were maximally stimulated with 12-O- tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate, a diacylglycerol analogue that activates protein kinase C. These findings support our hypothesis that diacylglycerol generation and protein kinase C activation may be important in the stimulation of glucose uptake by agents such as phenylephrine and insulin that activate the phosphoinositide cycle.