Nuclear receptor agonists improve insulin responsiveness in cultured cardiomyocytes through enhanced signaling and preserved cytoskeletal architecture.
Insulin resistance is the failure of insulin to stimulate the transport of glucose into its target cells. A highly regulatable supply of glucose is important for cardiomyocytes to cope with situations of metabolic stress. We recently observed that isolated adult rat cardiomyocytes become insulin resistant in vitro. Insulin resistance is combated at the whole body level with agonists of the nuclear receptor complex peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARgamma)/retinoid X receptor (RXR). We investigated the effects of PPARgamma/RXR agonists on the insulin-stimulated glucose transport and on insulin signaling in insulin-resistant adult rat cardiomyocytes. Treatment of cardiomyocytes with ciglitazone, a PPARgamma agonist, or 9-cis retinoic acid (RA), a RXR agonist, increased insulin- and metabolic stress-stimulated glucose transport, whereas agonists of PPARalpha or PPARbeta/delta had no effect. Stimulation of glucose transport in response to insulin requires the phosphorylation of the signaling intermediate Akt on the residues Thr308 and Ser473 and, downstream of Akt, AS160 on several Thr and Ser residues. Phosphorylation of Akt and AS160 in response to insulin was lower in insulin-resistant cardiomyocytes. However, treatment with 9-cis RA markedly increased phosphorylation of both proteins. Treatment with 9-cis RA also led to better preservation of microtubules in cultured cardiomyocytes. Disruption of microtubules in insulin-responsive cardiomyocytes abolished insulin-stimulated glucose transport and reduced phosphorylation of AS160 but not Akt. Metabolic stress-stimulated glucose transport also involved AS160 phosphorylation in a microtubule-dependent manner. Thus, the stimulation of glucose uptake in response to insulin or metabolic stress is dependent in cardiomyocytes on the presence of intact microtubules.
Montessuit
Christophe
C
Division of Cardiology, Geneva University Hospitals, 24 Micheli-du-Crest, 1211 Geneva 14, Switzerland. christophe.montessuit@medecine.unige.ch
Papageorgiou
Irène
I
Lerch
René
R
D000091162:AMP-Activated Protein Kinase Kinases; D000077556:Alitretinoin; D000818:Animals; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003599:Cytoskeleton / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D051275:Glucose Transporter Type 4 / Q000378:metabolism; D007328:Insulin / Q000502:physiology*; D007333:Insulin Resistance / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008870:Microtubules / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D032383:Myocytes, Cardiac / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D047495:PPAR gamma / Q000819:agonists* / Q000502:physiology; D010642:Phenoxyacetates / Q000494:pharmacology; D011494:Protein Kinases / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000502:physiology; D011743:Pyrimidines / Q000494:pharmacology; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D047488:Retinoid X Receptors / Q000819:agonists* / Q000502:physiology; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D045162:Thiazolidinediones / Q000494:pharmacology; D014212:Tretinoin / Q000494:pharmacology
C520164:4-(3-(2-propyl-3-hydroxy-4-acetyl)phenoxy)propyloxyphenoxy acetic acid; D051275:Glucose Transporter Type 4; D007328:Insulin; D047495:PPAR gamma; D010642:Phenoxyacetates; D011743:Pyrimidines; D047488:Retinoid X Receptors; C495694:Slc2a4 protein, rat; D045162:Thiazolidinediones; D000077556:Alitretinoin; D014212:Tretinoin; C006253:pirinixic acid; D011494:Protein Kinases; D000091162:AMP-Activated Protein Kinase Kinases; D005947:Glucose; C039671:ciglitazone