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The thiazolidenedione, rosiglitazone, increases basal and/or insulin-stimulated glucose transport in various cell types by diverse but uncertain mechanisms that may involve insulin receptor substrate (IRS)-1-dependent PI3K. Presently, in 3T3/L1 adipocytes, rosiglitazone induced sizable increases in basal glucose transport that were: dependent on PI3K, 3-phosphoinositide-dependent protein kinase-1 (PDK-1), and PKC-lambda; accompanied by increases in tyrosine phosphorylation of Cbl and Cbl-dependent increases in PI3K and PKC-lambda activity; but not accompanied by increases in IRS-1/2-dependent PI3K or protein kinase B activity. Additionally, rosiglitazone increased IRS-1 and IRS-2 levels, thereby enhancing insulin effects on IRS-1- and IRS-2-dependent PI3K and downstream signaling factors PKC-lambda and protein kinase B. Our findings suggest that Cbl participates in mediating effects of rosiglitazone on PI3K, PDK-1, and PKC-lambda and the glucose transport system and that this Cbl-dependent pathway complements the IRS-1 and IRS-2 pathways for activating PI3K, PDK-1, and PKC-lambda during combined actions of rosiglitazone and insulin in 3T3/L1 cells.

Insulin stimulates glucose transport and certain other metabolic processes by activating atypical PKC isoforms (lambda, zeta, iota) and protein kinase B (PKB) through increases in D3-polyphosphoinositides derived from the action of PI3K. The role of diacylglycerol-sensitive PKC isoforms is less clear as they have been suggested to be both activated by insulin and yet inhibit insulin signaling to PI3K. Presently, we found that insulin signaling to insulin receptor substrate 1-dependent PI3K, PKB, and PKC lambda, and downstream processes, glucose transport and activation of ERK, were enhanced in skeletal muscles and adipocytes of mice in which the ubiquitous conventional diacylglycerol-sensitive PKC isoform, PKC alpha, was knocked out by homologous recombination. On the other hand, insulin provoked wortmannin-insensitive increases in immunoprecipitable PKC alpha activity in adipocytes and skeletal muscles of wild-type mice and rats. We conclude that 1) PKC alpha is not required for insulin-stimulated glucose transport, and 2) PKC alpha is activated by insulin at least partly independently of PI3K, and largely serves as a physiological feedback inhibitor of insulin signaling to the insulin receptor substrate 1/PI3K/PKB/PKC lambda/zeta/iota complex and dependent metabolic processes.

Sorbitol, "osmotic stress", stimulates GLUT4 glucose transporter translocation to the plasma membrane and glucose transport by a phosphatidylinositol (PI) 3-kinase-independent mechanism that reportedly involves non-receptor proline-rich tyrosine kinase-2 (PYK2) but subsequent events are obscure. In the present study, we found that extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) pathway components, growth-factor-receptor-bound-2 protein, son of sevenless (SOS), RAS, RAF and mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase/ERK kinase, MEK(-1), operating downstream of PYK2, were required for sorbitol-stimulated GLUT4 translocation/glucose transport in rat adipocytes, L6 myotubes and 3T3/L1 adipocytes. Furthermore, sorbitol activated atypical protein kinase C (aPKC) through a similar mechanism depending on the PYK2/ERK pathway, independent of PI 3-kinase and its downstream effector, 3-phosphoinositide-dependent protein kinase-1 (PDK-1). Like PYK2/ERK pathway components, aPKCs were required for sorbitol-stimulated GLUT4 translocation/glucose transport. Interestingly, sorbitol stimulated increases in phospholipase D (PLD) activity and generation of phosphatidic acid (PA), which directly activated aPKCs. As with aPKCs and glucose transport, sorbitol-stimulated PLD activity was dependent on the ERK pathway. Moreover, PLD-generated PA was required for sorbitol-induced activation of aPKCs and GLUT4 translocation/glucose transport. Our findings suggest that sorbitol sequentially activates PYK2, the ERK pathway and PLD, thereby increasing PA, which activates aPKCs and GLUT4 translocation. This mechanism contrasts with that of insulin, which primarily uses PI 3-kinase, D3-PO(4) polyphosphoinositides and PDK-1 to activate aPKCs.

Insulin-stimulated glucose transport is impaired in the early phases of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Studies in rodent cells suggest that atypical PKC (aPKC) isoforms (zeta, lamda, and iota) and PKB, and their upstream activators, PI3K and 3-phosphoinositide-dependent protein kinase-1 (PDK-1), play important roles in insulin-stimulated glucose transport. However, there is no information on requirements for aPKCs, PKB, or PDK-1 during insulin action in human cell types. Presently, by using preadipocyte-derived adipocytes, we were able to employ adenoviral gene transfer methods to critically examine these requirements in a human cell type. These adipocytes were found to contain PKC-zeta, rather than PKC-lamda/iota, as their major aPKC. Expression of kinase-inactive forms of PDK-1, PKC-zeta, and PKC-lamda (which functions interchangeably with PKC-zeta) as well as chemical inhibitors of PI 3-kinase and PKC-zeta/lamda, wortmannin and the cell-permeable myristoylated PKC-zeta pseudosubstrate, respectively, effectively inhibited insulin-stimulated glucose transport. In contrast, expression of a kinase-inactive, activation-resistant, triple alanine mutant form of PKB-alpha had little or no effect, and expression of wild-type and constitutively active PKC-zeta or PKC-lamda increased glucose transport. Our findings provide convincing evidence that aPKCs and upstream activators, PI 3-kinase and PDK-1, play important roles in insulin-stimulated glucose transport in preadipocyte-derived human adipocytes.