scholarly journals Skeletal muscle glycogen synthesis – it turns out we still know very little

2020 ◽  
Vol 598 (24) ◽  
pp. 5593-5594
Author(s):  
Richard William Alexander Mackenzie
1993 ◽  
Vol 265 (5) ◽  
pp. E761-E769 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Rossetti ◽  
Y. T. Lee ◽  
J. Ruiz ◽  
S. C. Aldridge ◽  
H. Shamoon ◽  
...  

We measured the net rates of skeletal muscle glycogen synthesis and glycolysis (conversion of [3-3H]glucose to 3H2O) in healthy overnight-fasted volunteers. Two studies were performed. In study 1, seven subjects participated in two paired infusions under basal conditions of either [2-3H]glucose (H2) or [3-3H]glucose (H3). Total glucose uptake (Rd) and rates of whole body 3H2O formation (3H2O Ra) were measured. With H2, Rd and 3H2O Ra were similar. With H3, 3H2O Ra, equal to glycolysis, was 65% of Rd. In study 2, six different subjects underwent a 3-h, 40 mU.m-2 x min-1 euglycemic insulin clamp. [6,6-2H2]glucose was infused throughout and H3 was infused during the last hour of the study. Open muscle biopsies were obtained at 150 and 180 min. Glycogen synthesis was assessed by three independent means: 1) direct measurement, as 3H disintegrations per minute in isolated muscle glycogen per plasma H3 specific activity; 2) extrapolation from the activity of glycogen synthase assayed in the presence of the concentrations of glucose 6-phosphate and UDP-glucose measured in the biopsy; and 3) the difference between Rd and glycolysis. Despite a wide range in Rd [24.5-58.8 mumol.kg fat-free mass (FFM)-1 x min-1] and glycolysis (14.2-26.1), the three methods yielded similar results of 20.0 +/- 3.9, 22.5 +/- 3.7, and 20.6 +/- 3.7 mumol.kg FFM-1 x min-1 and correlated highly with each other (r2 = 0.92-0.96). Our results (study 1) indicate that the rate of plasma tritiated water formation reflects the intracellular detritiation of tritiated glucose. Under hyperinsulinemic conditions (study 2) the net rate of muscle glycogen synthesis can be accurately estimated from the glycogen synthase activity and from the difference between total glucose uptake and glycolysis. Thus, at high physiological plasma insulin concentrations resulting in submaximal stimulation of muscle glycogen synthesis, the latter can be accurately measured in humans.


1988 ◽  
Vol 254 (3) ◽  
pp. 855-859 ◽  
Author(s):  
M J Holness ◽  
M J L Schuster-Bruce ◽  
M C Sugden

The pattern of glycogen deposition in skeletal muscles of varying fibre composition was examined in rats during the starved-to-fed transition. In all the muscles studied, glycogen concentrations steadily increased during the first 8 h after chow re-feeding, and the fed value was exceeded. Rates of glycogen deposition varied, not with muscle fibre composition, but with the extent of glycogen depletion during starvation. There was no evidence for skeletal-muscle glycogen breakdown during the period of hepatic glycogenesis, making it unlikely that recycling of carbon from muscle glycogen to lactate is quantitatively important for the provision of glycogenic precursors to the liver, but moderate glycogen loss was observed from 8 to 24 h after re-feeding, when the liver is in the lipogenic mode. The factors influencing glucose disposal by skeletal muscle after re-feeding are discussed.


2008 ◽  
Vol 294 (1) ◽  
pp. E28-E35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michale Bouskila ◽  
Michael F. Hirshman ◽  
Jørgen Jensen ◽  
Laurie J. Goodyear ◽  
Kei Sakamoto

Insulin promotes dephosphorylation and activation of glycogen synthase (GS) by inactivating glycogen synthase kinase (GSK) 3 through phosphorylation. Insulin also promotes glucose uptake and glucose 6-phosphate (G-6- P) production, which allosterically activates GS. The relative importance of these two regulatory mechanisms in the activation of GS in vivo is unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate if dephosphorylation of GS mediated via GSK3 is required for normal glycogen synthesis in skeletal muscle with insulin. We employed GSK3 knockin mice in which wild-type GSK3α and -β genes are replaced with mutant forms (GSK3α/βS21A/S21A/S9A/S9A), which are nonresponsive to insulin. Although insulin failed to promote dephosphorylation and activation of GS in GSK3α/βS21A/S21A/S9A/S9Amice, glycogen content in different muscles from these mice was similar compared with wild-type mice. Basal and epinephrine-stimulated activity of muscle glycogen phosphorylase was comparable between wild-type and GSK3 knockin mice. Incubation of isolated soleus muscle in Krebs buffer containing 5.5 mM glucose in the presence or absence of insulin revealed that the levels of G-6- P, the rate of [14C]glucose incorporation into glycogen, and an increase in total glycogen content were similar between wild-type and GSK3 knockin mice. Injection of glucose containing 2-deoxy-[3H]glucose and [14C]glucose also resulted in similar rates of muscle glucose uptake and glycogen synthesis in vivo between wild-type and GSK3 knockin mice. These results suggest that insulin-mediated inhibition of GSK3 is not a rate-limiting step in muscle glycogen synthesis in mice. This suggests that allosteric regulation of GS by G-6- P may play a key role in insulin-stimulated muscle glycogen synthesis in vivo.


1998 ◽  
Vol 275 (2) ◽  
pp. E338-E344 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joong-Yeol Park ◽  
Chul-Hee Kim ◽  
Sung K. Hong ◽  
Kyo I. Suh ◽  
Ki-Up Lee

To examine effects of free fatty acids (FFA) on insulin-stimulated glucose fluxes, euglycemic hyperinsulinemic (86 pmol ⋅ kg−1 ⋅ min−1) clamps were performed for 5 h in conscious rats with ( n = 8) or without ( n = 8) lipid-heparin infusion. Glucose infusion rate required to maintain euglycemia was not different between the two groups during the first 2 h of clamps but became significantly lower with lipid-heparin infusion in the 3rd h and thereafter. To investigate changes in intracellular glucose metabolism during lipid-heparin infusion, additional clamps ( n = 8 each) were performed for 1, 2, 3, or 5 h with an infusion of [3-3H]glucose. Insulin-stimulated whole body glucose utilization (Rd), glycolysis, and glycogen synthesis were estimated on the basis of tracer concentrations in plasma during the final 40 min of each clamp. Similar to changes in glucose infusion rate, Rd was not different between the two groups in the 1st and 2nd h but was significantly lower with lipid-heparin infusion in the 3rd h and thereafter. Whole body glycolysis was significantly lower with lipid-heparin infusion in all time periods, i.e., 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th h of clamps. In contrast, whole body glycogen synthesis was higher with lipid-heparin infusion in the 1st and 2nd h but lower in the 5th h. Similarly, accumulation of [3H]glycogen radioactivity in muscle glycogen was significantly higher with lipid-heparin during the 1st and 2nd h but lower during the 3rd and 5th h. Glucose 6-phosphate (G-6- P) concentrations in gastrocnemius muscles were significantly higher with lipid-heparin infusion throughout the clamps. Muscle glycogen synthase (GS) activity was not altered with lipid-heparin infusion at 1, 2, and 3 h but was significantly lower at 5 h. Thus increased availability of FFA significantly reduced whole body glycolysis, but compensatory increase in skeletal muscle glycogen synthesis in association with accumulation of G-6- P masked this effect, and Rd was not affected in the early phase (within 2 h) of lipid-heparin infusion. Rd was reduced in the later phase (>2 h) of lipid-heparin infusion, when glycogen synthesis was reduced in association with reduced skeletal muscle GS activity.


2011 ◽  
Vol 301 (6) ◽  
pp. E1155-E1162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ee L. Lim ◽  
Kieren G. Hollingsworth ◽  
Fiona E. Smith ◽  
Peter E. Thelwall ◽  
Roy Taylor

Mitochondrial dysfunction has been implicated in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes. We hypothesized that any impairment in insulin-stimulated muscle ATP production could merely reflect the lower rates of muscle glucose uptake and glycogen synthesis, rather than cause it. If this is correct, muscle ATP turnover rates in type 2 diabetes could be increased if glycogen synthesis rates were normalized by the mass-action effect of hyperglycemia. Isoglycemic- and hyperglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamps were performed on type 2 diabetic subjects and matched controls, with muscle ATP turnover and glycogen synthesis rates measured using 31P- and 13C-magnetic resonance spectroscopy, respectively. In diabetic subjects, hyperglycemia increased muscle glycogen synthesis rates to the level observed in controls at isoglycemia [from 19 ± 9 to 41 ± 12 μmol·l−1·min−1 ( P = 0.012) vs. 40 ± 7 μmol·l−1·min−1 in controls]. This was accompanied by a modest increase in muscle ATP turnover rates (7.1 ± 0.5 vs. 8.6 ± 0.7 μmol·l−1·min−1, P = 0.04). In controls, hyperglycemia brought about a 2.5-fold increase in glycogen synthesis rates (100 ± 24 vs. 40 ± 7 μmol·l−1·min−1, P = 0.028) and a 23% increase in ATP turnover rates (8.1 ± 0.9 vs. 10.0 ± 0.9 μmol·l−1·min−1, P = 0.025) from basal state. Muscle ATP turnover rates correlated positively with glycogen synthesis rates ( rs = 0.46, P = 0.005). Changing the rate of muscle glucose metabolism in type 2 diabetic subjects alters demand for ATP synthesis at rest. In type 2 diabetes, skeletal muscle ATP turnover rates reflect the rate of glucose uptake and glycogen synthesis, rather than any primary mitochondrial defect.


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