Preferential inhibition by quercetin of mitogen-stimulated thymocyte glucose transport.

The ATPase inhibitor quercetin, which inhibits tumor glycolysis, was shown to be a glucose transport inhibitor like the chemically related compound phloretin. Rat thymocyte glucose transport stimulated by the mitogens concanavalin A or ionophore A 23187 was more sensitive than unstimulated transport to quercetin inhibition. The partial inhibition of Na+-, K+- ATPase activity by quercetin observed in tumor cells was confirmed in thymocyte plasma membranes. The specific Na+-, K+- ATPase inhibitor ouabain did not mimic the effect of quercetin on mitogen-stimulated glucose transport but did reduce the effectiveness of concanavalin A as a stimulator of mitochondrial pyruvate oxidation. The results support the idea that glycolytic flux and the activity of plasma membrane ATPase are related but suggest that glucose transport, rather than the Na+-, K+-ATPase, is the rate-limiting reaction in lymphocytes.