Expression of glucose transporters in the developing rat skin.

We found the changed distribution of glucose transporter (GLUT) proteins in the skin during rat development. At 15 days of gestation, GLUT1 and 2 proteins were expressed in the of epidermal cells. In postnatal skin, however, GLUT1 and 2 exhibit different expression patterns. While GLUT1 expression becomes more restricted to the with development, GLUT2 was found mainly in and , but not being localized in the at any stages of perinatal skin development. Considering all these, it can be speculated that each GLUT protein plays its specific role in different epidermal layers and that the glucose used in mammalian skin could be originated from the amniotic fluid during skin development.