Glucose transporter expression and glucose utilization in skeletal muscle and brown adipose tissue during starvation and re-feeding.

Starvation (48 h) decreased the concentration of mRNA of the insulin-responsive glucose transporter isoform (GLUT 4) in interscapular brown adipose tissue (IBAT) (56%) and tibialis anterior (10%). Despite dramatic [7-fold (tibialis anterior) and 40-fold (IBAT)] increases in glucose utilization after 2 and 4 h of chow re-feeding, no significant changes in GLUT 4 mRNA concentration were observed in these tissues over this re-feeding period. The results exclude changes in GLUT 4 mRNA concentration in mediating the responses of glucose transport in these tissues to acute re-feeding after prolonged starvation.