O2 dependence of insulin stimulation of glucose uptake by perfused rat liver: effects of carboxyhaemoglobin and haematocrit.

Livers from fed male rats were perfused in a non-recirculating system with undiluted rat blood containing 14 mM glucose. In these experiments there was a substantial uptake of glucose which was stimulated by insulin. Perfusion with blood containing carboxyhaemoglobin at a concentration of 40% of total haemoglobin lowered O2 consumption and abolished hepatic glucose uptake in control and insulin-infused livers, respectively. In experiments with rat erythrocytes resuspended in buffer to haematocrit values of 38 and 22%, O2 consumption and control and insulin-stimulated rates of glucose uptake were similar to corresponding perfusions with undiluted blood and blood containing carboxyhaemoglobin. It is concluded that serum factors are of relatively small importance and that hepatic glucose uptake is dictated by O2 supply.