Modulation of basal glucose transporter Km in the adipocyte by insulin and other factors.

We have previously described experimental conditions where basal methylglucose transport in adipocytes exhibited an apparent Km of approximately 35 mM. Under those conditions insulin stimulated transport predominantly by decreasing the transport Km (Whitesell, R. R., and Abumrad, N. A. (1985) J. Biol. Chem. 260, 2894-2899). Our findings were in contrast with earlier reports that the Km of basal glucose transport was low (3-5 mM) and similar to that of transport in insulin-treated cells. In this study we have investigated the effect of different experimental conditions on the kinetics of basal glucose transport in adipocytes. When transport was assayed at 37 degrees C, cell agitation for 10 min prior to the transport assay decreased the basal Km from 35 to 12 mM. Deprivation of metabolic substrate produced a further reduction down to 2 mM. Refeeding starved cells with 1 mM glucose returned the Km back up to 12 mM in agitated cells and to 40 mM in stabilized cells. The effects of agitation to lower and of glucose to raise the basal Km were prevented by preincubating cells with dinitrophenol. Cell agitation or substrate lack did not alter the Vmax of basal transport and were without effect on both Km and Vmax in insulin-treated cells. The temperature dependencies of the kinetics of basal and stimulated transport were studied. A decrease in the assay temperature from 37 to 23 degrees C caused both basal Km and Vmax to drop proportionately from 25 to 5 mM, and 13 to 3.6 nmol/(microliter X min), respectively. In insulin-stimulated cells, only the Vmax was decreased (Km went from 3.5 to 3 mM, Vmax from 45 to 17 nmol/(microliter X min]. The results support the concept that experimental conditions can produce large changes in the Km of basal glucose transporters. Furthermore they explain why, under certain assay conditions (with temperatures around 23 degrees C or with deprivation of metabolic substrate), the effect of insulin on transport Km is not observed. Our data also suggest that basal transport characteristics do not persist in insulin-treated cells. We would propose that one of the actions of insulin (in addition to raising Vmax) is to change the characteristics of basal transporters by overriding metabolic factors which keep the Km high. Alternatively, insulin could cause the disappearance of basal transporters as new and different ones are recruited from intracellular stores.