Expression and cellular localization of glucose transporters (GLUT1, GLUT3, GLUT4) during differentiation of myogenic cells isolated from rat foetuses.

Skeletal muscle regeneration is mediated by the proliferation of myoblasts from stem cells located beneath the basal lamina of myofibres, the muscle satellite cells. They are functionally indistinguishable from embryonic myoblasts. The myogenic process includes the fusion of myoblasts into multinucleated myotubes, the biosynthesis of proteins specific for skeletal muscle and proteins that regulates glucose metabolism, the glucose transporters. We find that three isoforms of glucose transporter are expressed during foetal myoblast differentiation: GLUT1, GLUT3 and GLUT4; their relative expression being dependent upon the stage of differentiation of the cells. GLUT1 mRNA and protein were abundant only in myoblasts from 19-day-old rat foetuses or from adult muscles. GLUT3 mRNA and protein, detectable in both cell types, increased markedly during cell fusion, but decreased in contracting myotubes. GLUT4 mRNA and protein were not expressed in myoblasts. They appeared only in spontaneously contracting myotubes cultured on an extracellular matrix. Insulin or IGF-I had no effect on the expression of the three glucose transporter isoforms, even in the absence of glucose. The rate of glucose transport, assessed using 2-[3H]deoxyglucose, was 2-fold higher in myotubes than in myoblasts. Glucose deprivation increased the basal rate of glucose transport by 2-fold in myoblasts, and 4-fold in myotubes. The cellular localization of the glucose transporters was directly examined by immunofluorescence staining. GLUT1 was located on the plasma membrane of myoblasts and myotubes. GLUT3 was located intracellularly in myoblasts and appeared also on the plasma membrane in myotubes. Insulin or IGF-I were unable to target GLUT3 to the plasma membrane. GLUT4, the insulin-regulatable glucose transporter isoform, appeared only in contracting myotubes in small intracellular vesicles. It was translocated to the plasma membrane after a short exposure to insulin, as it is in skeletal muscle in vivo. These results show that there is a switch in glucose transporter isoform expression during myogenic differentiation, dependent upon the energy required by the different stages of the process. GLUT3 seemed to play a role during cell fusion, and could be a marker for the muscle's ability to regenerate.