Insulin activates 6-phosphofructo-2-kinase and pyruvate kinase in the liver. Indirect evidence for an action via a phosphatase.

The effect of insulin on hepatic glucose production has been studied in anesthetized rats in the postabsorptive state. Insulin decreases significantly hepatic glucose production within 5-10 min. It also increases the level of fructose 2,6-bisphosphate, via an increase in the Vmax of 6-phosphofructo-2-kinase and concomitantly decreased the activity of fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase, resulting in a 5-fold increase in the ratio of kinase/phosphatase. Insulin also increased the apparent Kd of pyruvate kinase for phosphoenolpyruvate. The changes in the activity of 6-phosphofructo-2-kinase and pyruvate kinase were measured after separation from possible modulators, and suggest a decrease in their phosphorylation state which cannot be attributed to a decrease in the level of cAMP or in the activity of cAMP-dependent protein kinase since these two parameters were not modified by insulin. In addition, neither the activity of phosphorylase a nor that of glycogen synthase were modified. The data strongly suggest that the increase in the glycolytic rate plays a role in the effect of insulin on hepatic glucose production and that insulin mediates its effect on the activity of these enzymes via one or more phosphatases.