title: Involvement of pregnane X receptor in the impaired glucose utilization induced by atorvastatin in hepatocytes.
abstract: Accumulating evidences demonstrated that statins impaired glucose utilization. This study was aimed to investigate whether PXR was involved in the atorvastatin-impaired glucose utilization. Rifampicin/PCN served as PXR activator control. Glucose utilization, glucose uptake, protein levels of GLUT2, GCK, PDK2, PEPCK1 and G6Pase in HepG2 cells were measured. PXR inhibitors, PXR overexpression and PXR siRNA were applied to verify the role of PXR in atorvastatin-impaired glucose utilization in cells. Hypercholesterolemia rats induced by high fat diet feeding, orally received atorvastatin (5 and 10 mg/kg), pravastatin (10 mg/kg) for 14 days, or intraperitoneally received PCN (35 mg/kg) for 4 days. Results showed that glucose utilization was markedly inhibited by atorvastatin, simvastatin, pitavastatin, lovastatin and rifampicin. Neither rosuvastatin nor pravastatin showed the similar effect. Atorvastatin and pravastatin were selected for the following study. Atorvastatin and rifampicin significantly inhibited glucose uptake and down-regulated GLUT2 and GCK expressions. Similarly, overexpressed PXR significantly down-regulated GLUT2 and GCK expressions and impaired glucose utilization. Ketoconazole and resveratrol attenuated the impaired glucose utilization by atorvastatin and rifampicin in both parental and overexpressed PXR cells. PXR knockdown significantly up-regulated GLUT2 and GCK proteins and abolished the decreased glucose consumption and uptake by atorvastatin and rifampicin. Animal experiments showed that atorvastatin and PCN significantly elicited postprandial hyperglycemia, leading to increase in glucose AUC. Expressions of GLUT2 and GCK in rat livers were markedly down-regulated by atorvastatin and PCN. In conclusion, atorvastatin impaired glucose utilization in hepatocytes via repressing GLUT2 and GCK expressions, which may be partly due to PXR activation.
authors.affiliation: Center of Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, China.
authors.forename: Zhaoli
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ling
authors.affiliation: Center of Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, China.
authors.forename: Nan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shu
authors.affiliation: Center of Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, China.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Center of Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, China.
authors.forename: Fan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Center of Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, China.
authors.forename: Zeyu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.affiliation: Center of Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, China.
authors.forename: Binbin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: College of Chinese Pharmacy, Shanxi University of Chinese Medicine, Shanxi, Xianyang 712046, China.
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Center of Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, China.
authors.forename: Mian
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Center of Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, China.
authors.forename: Kaijing
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Center of Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, China.
authors.forename: Xiange
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Center of Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, China.
authors.forename: Zhongjian
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Center of Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, China.
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Center of Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, China. Electronic address: liulee@yeah.net.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Center of Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, China. Electronic address: xdliu@cpu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Xiaodong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000069059:Atorvastatin / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism*; D056945:Hep G2 Cells; D022781:Hepatocytes / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D000077297:Pregnane X Receptor; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D011987:Receptors, Steroid / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D000077297:Pregnane X Receptor; D011987:Receptors, Steroid; D000069059:Atorvastatin; D005947:Glucose
keywords: Atorvastatin; Diabetes; Glucokinase; Glucose tolerance; Glucose transporter 2; Pregnane X receptor