Fructose-6-phosphate substrate cycling and glucose and insulin regulation of gluconeogenesis in vivo.

The question whether glucose or insulin regulates gluconeogenesis by effecting changes in the fructose-6-phosphate (F-6-P) substrate cycle (phosphofructokinase (PFK), fructose-1,6-diphosphatase (FDPase)) was investigated in vivo in fasted normal rats using [3-3H,U-14C]- or [3-3H,6-14C]glucose. The plasma glucose 3H/14C ratio was used as an index of substrate cycling because 3H loss from the liver hexose phosphate pool is limited by the activities of PFK and FDPase during gluconeogenesis and glycolysis, respectively. The 3H/14C ratio was corrected where necessary for glucose or insulin-induced changes in reincorporation of 14C from C-6 to C-1-3 of plasma glucose. A glucose infusion producing hyperglycemia and insulinemia was accompanied by decreased hepatic glucose production and diminished F-6-P substrate cycling, i.e., decreased FDPase activity. When insulin was infused along with glucose to produce high plasma insulin levels and avoid hypo- or hyperglycemia, the 3H/14C decay rate did not change, suggesting that the hormone does not influence basal rates of gluconeogenesis or PFK or FDPase activities. These in vivo results suggest that increased blood glucose levels inhibit gluconeogenesis and depress F-6-P substrate cycling. Whether these cycle changes constitute primary regulatory actions of glucose or occur secondarily to other metabolic events resulting from excess hexose (e.g., increased glycogen synthetase activity) cannot now be concluded.