Regulation of hexose carriers in chicken embryo fibroblasts. Effect of glucose starvation and role of protein synthesis.

Regulation of hexose transport was investigated in chicken embryo fibroblasts (CEF) which develop 4- to 8-fold enhanced hexose transport activity during glucose starvation. The presence of cycloheximide in low (0.5 micrograms/ml) concentrations during starvation largely blocked the enhancement of transport activity. Glucose refeeding of CEF in the starvation state led to a decline in transport to the basal level. This decline was either potentiated or blocked by the presence of cycloheximide in low or high (50 micrograms/ml) concentrations, respectively. Exposure of CEF in the fed state to low concentrations of cycloheximide resulted in a 70% decrease of transport within 6 h, whereas exposure to high concentrations of cycloheximide led to only a modest loss (35% decrease). In the glucose-starved state, CEF had no significant decline of transport when exposed to cycloheximide at either high or low concentrations. The uptake of 3-O-methylglucose by fed, starved, or cycloheximide-treated CEF correlated closely with D-glucose transport activity and [3H]cytochalasin B binding by plasma membranes prepared from CEF exposed to the same conditions. Hexose transport activity of CEF seems to largely depend on the number of functioning carriers in the plasma membrane, which apparently reflect the balance between carrier synthesis and inactivation. These two processes require protein synthesis, but are differentially sensitive to the effects of cycloheximide, such that low concentrations of cycloheximide appear to block primarily synthesis while high concentrations block both processes. Furthermore, during starvation the enhancement of transport appears largely due to decreased carrier inactivation in the face of continued carrier synthesis.