AMPK activation restores the stimulation of glucose uptake in an in vitro model of insulin-resistant cardiomyocytes via the activation of protein kinase B

• Published in: American journal of physiology. Heart and circulatory physiology Vol. 291; no. 1; pp. H239 - H250
• Main Authors: Bertrand, Luc, Ginion, Audrey, Beauloye, Christophe, Hebert, Alexandre D, Guigas, Bruno, Hue, Louis, Vanoverschelde, Jean-Louis
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.07.2006
• Subjects: AMP-Activated Protein Kinases; Animals; Biguanides - administration & dosage; Cells, Cultured; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Drug Combinations; Enzyme Activation; Glucose - metabolism; Insulin - administration & dosage; Insulin Resistance - physiology; Male; Multienzyme Complexes - drug effects; Multienzyme Complexes - metabolism; Myocytes, Cardiac - metabolism; Oligomycins - administration & dosage; Protein-Serine-Threonine Kinases - drug effects; Protein-Serine-Threonine Kinases - metabolism; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt - metabolism; Rats; Rats, Wistar
• ISSN: 0363-6135; 1522-1539
• DOI: 10.1152/ajpheart.01269.2005

1 Division of Cardiology, School of Medicine, Université Catholique de Louvain; and 2 Hormone and Metabolic Research Unit, Université Catholique de Louvain and Christian de Duve Institute of Cellular Pathology, Brussels, Belgium Submitted 1 December 2005 ; accepted in final form 10 February 2006 Diabetic hearts are known to be more susceptible to ischemic disease. Biguanides, like metformin, are known antidiabetic drugs that lower blood glucose concentrations by decreasing hepatic glucose production and increasing glucose disposal in muscle. Part of these metabolic effects is thought to be mediated by the activation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK). In this work, we studied the relationship between AMPK activation and glucose uptake stimulation by biguanides and oligomycin, another AMPK activator, in both insulin-sensitive and insulin-resistant cardiomyocytes. In insulin-sensitive cardiomyocytes, insulin, biguanides and oligomycin were able to stimulate glucose uptake with the same efficiency. Stimulation of glucose uptake by insulin or biguanides was correlated to protein kinase B (PKB) or AMPK activation, respectively, and were additive. In insulin-resistant cardiomyocytes, where insulin stimulation of glucose uptake was greatly reduced, biguanides or oligomycin, in the absence of insulin, induced a higher stimulation of glucose uptake than that obtained in insulin-sensitive cells. This stimulation was correlated with the activation of both AMPK and PKB and was sensitive to the phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase/PKB pathway inhibitors. Finally, an adenoviral-mediated expression of a constitutively active form of AMPK increased both PKB phosphorylation and glucose uptake in insulin-resistant cardiomyocytes. We concluded that AMPK activators, like biguanides and oligomycin, are able to restore glucose uptake stimulation, in the absence of insulin, in insulin-resistant cardiomyocytes via the additive activation of AMPK and PKB. Our results suggest that AMPK activation could restore normal glucose metabolism in diabetic hearts and could be a potential therapeutic approach to treat insulin resistance. diabetes; AMP-activated protein kinase; metformin; oligomycin Address for reprint requests and other correspondence: L. Bertrand, Div. of Cardiology, Université Catholique de Louvain, Ave. Hippocrate, 55, CARD5550, B-1200 Brussels, Belgium (e-mail: bertrand{at}card.ucl.ac.be )