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We have developed two-dimensional liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (2D-LC−MS/MS) and ¹⁸O proteolytic labeling strategies to identify and compare levels of secretory proteins with low abundance in the conditioned medium of rat adipose cells without or with insulin stimulation. Culture medium was concentrated and secreted proteins were separated on a RP−HPLC followed by LC−MS/MS analysis. For ¹⁸O proteolytic labeling, ¹⁶O- to ¹⁸O-exchange in the digested peptides from eight individual fractions was carried out in parallel in H2¹⁶O and H2¹⁸O with immobilized trypsin, and the ratios of isotopically distinct peptides were measured by mass spectrometry. A total of 84 proteins was identified as secreted adipokines. This large number of secretory proteins comprise multiple functional categories. Comparative proteomics of ¹⁸O proteolytic labeling allows the detection of different levels of many secreted proteins as exemplified here by the difference between basal and insulin treatment of adipose cells. Taken together, our proteomic approach is able to identify and quantify the comprehensive secretory proteome of adipose cells. Thus, our data support the endocrine role of adipose cells in pathophysiological states through the secretion of signaling molecules. Keywords: comparative proteomics • proteolytic ¹⁸ O labeling • secreted proteome • adipose cell • electrospray-ionization mass spectrometry

Conditions are described which allow the isolation of rat adipose-cell plasma membranes retaining a large part of the stimulatory effect of insulin in intact cells. In these membranes, the magnitude of glucose-transport stimulation in response to insulin was compared with the concentration of transporters as measured with the cytochalasin-B-binding assay or by immunoblotting with an antiserum against the human erythrocyte glucose transporter. Further, the substrate- and temperature-dependencies of the basal and insulin-stimulated states were compared. Under carefully controlled homogenization conditions, insulin-treated adipose cells yielded plasma membranes with a glucose transport activity 10-15-fold higher than that in membranes from basal cells. Insulin increased the transport Vmax. (from 1,400 +/- 300 to 15,300 +/- 3,400 pmol/s per mg of protein; means +/- S.E.M.; assayed at 22 degrees C) without any significant change in Km (from 17.8 +/- 4.4 to 18.9 +/- 1.4 nM). Arrhenius plots of plasma-membrane transport exhibited a break at 21 degrees C, with a higher activation energy over the lower temperature range. The activation energy over the higher temperature range was significantly lower in membranes from basal than from insulin-stimulated cells [27.7 +/- 5.0 kJ/mol (6.6 +/- 1.2 kcal/mol) and 45.3 +/- 2.1 kJ/mol (10.8 +/- 0.5 kcal/mol) respectively], giving rise to a larger relative response to insulin when transport was assayed at 37 degrees C as compared with 22 degrees C. The stimulation of transport activity at 22 degrees C was fully accounted for by an increase in the concentration of transporters measured by cytochalasin B binding, if a 5% contamination of plasma membranes with low-density microsomes was assumed. However, this 10-fold stimulation of transport activity contrasted with an only 2-fold increase in transporter immunoreactivity in membranes from insulin-stimulated cells. These data suggest that, in addition to stimulating the translocation of glucose transporters to the plasma membrane, insulin appears to induce a structural or conformational change in the transporter, manifested in an altered activation energy for plasma-membrane transport and possibly in an altered immunoreactivity as assessed by Western blotting.

To study the role of the GTPase dynamin in GLUT4 intracellular recycling, we have overexpressed dynamin-1 wild type and a GTPase-negative mutant (K44A) in primary rat adipose cells. Transfection was accomplished by electroporation using an hemagglutinin (HA)-tagged GLUT4 as a reporter protein. In cells expressing HA-GLUT4 alone, insulin results in an approximately 7-fold increase in cell surface anti-HA antibody binding. Studies with wortmannin indicate that the kinetics of HA-GLUT4-trafficking parallel those of the native GLUT4 and in addition, that newly synthesized HA-GLUT4 goes to the plasma membrane before being sorted into the insulin-responsive compartments. Short term (4 h) coexpression of dynamin-K44A and HA-GLUT4 increases the amount of cell surface HA-GLUT4 in both the basal and insulin-stimulated states. Under conditions of maximal expression of dynamin-K44A (24 h), most or all of the intracellular HA-GLUT4 appears to be present on the cell surface in the basal state, and insulin has no further effect. Measurements of the kinetics of HA-GLUT4 endocytosis show that dynamin-K44A blocks internalization of the glucose transporters. In contrast, expression of dynamin wild type decreases the amount of cell surface HA-GLUT4 in both the basal and insulin-stimulated states. These data demonstrate that the endocytosis of GLUT4 is largely mediated by processes which require dynamin.

In muscle and fat, glucose transport occurs through the translocation of GLUT4 from an intracellular pool to the cell surface. Phosphatidylinositol (PI) 3-kinase has been shown to be required in this process. Insulin is thought to activate this enzyme by stimulating its association with tyrosine-phosphorylated proteins such as insulin receptor substrate (IRS)-1, IRS-2, Grb2-associated binder-1, and pp60. To study the role of these endogenous substrates in glucose transport, we analyzed adipocytes from IRS-1 null mice that we previously generated (Tamemoto, H., Kadowaki, T., Tobe, K., Yagi, T., Sakura, H., Hayakawa, T., Terauchi, Y., Ueki, K., Kaburagi, Y., Satoh, S., Sekihara, H., Yoshioka, S., Horikoshi, H., Furuta, Y. , Ikawa, Y., Kasuga, M., Yazaki Y., and Aizawa S. (1994) Nature 372, 182-186). In adipocytes from these mice, we showed that: 1) insulin-induced PI 3-kinase activity in the antiphosphotyrosine immunoprecipitates was 54% of wild-type; 2) pp60 was the major tyrosine-phosphorylated protein that associated with PI 3-kinase, whereas tyrosine phosphorylaion of IRS-2 as well as its association with this enzyme was almost undetectable; and 3) glucose transport and GLUT4 translocation at maximal insulin stimulation were decreased to 52 and 68% of those from wild-type. These data suggest that both IRS-1 and pp60 play a major role in insulin-induced glucose transport in adipocytes, and that pp60 is predominantly involved in regulating this process in the absence of IRS-1.

Insulin is known to increase the number of cell surface insulin-like growth factor II (IGF-II) receptors in isolated rat adipose cells through a subcellular redistribution mechanism similar to that for the glucose transporter. The effects of insulin on these two processes, therefore, have now been directly compared in the same cell preparations. 1) Insulin increases the steady state number of cell surface IGF-II receptors by 7-13-fold without affecting receptor affinity; however, insulin stimulates glucose transport activity by 25-40-fold. 2) The insulin concentration required for half-maximal stimulation of cell surface IGF-II receptor number is approximately 30% lower than that for the stimulation of glucose transport activity. 3) The half-time for the achievement of insulin's maximal effect at 37 degrees C is much shorter for IGF-II receptor number (approximately 0.8 min) than for glucose transport activity (approximately 2.6 min). 4) Reversal of insulin's action at 37 degrees C occurs more rapidly for cell surface IGF-II receptors (t1/2 congruent to 2.9 min) than for glucose transport activity (t1/2 congruent to 4.9 min). 5) When the relative subcellular distribution of IGF-II receptors is examined in basal cells, less than 10% of the receptors are localized to the plasma membrane fraction indicating that most of the receptors, like glucose transporters, are localized to an intracellular compartment. However, in response to insulin, the number of plasma membrane IGF-II receptors increases only approximately 1.4-fold while the number of glucose transporters increases approximately 4.5-fold. Thus, while the stimulatory actions of insulin on cell surface IGF-II receptors and glucose transport activity are qualitatively similar, marked quantitative differences suggest that the subcellular cycling of these two integral membrane proteins occurs by distinct processes.

We have studied the biochemical mechanism of insulin action on glucose transport in the rat adipocyte. Plasma membranes and low-density microsomes were prepared by differential ultracentrifugation of basal and insulin-stimulated cells. The photochemical cross-linking agent hydroxysuccinimidyl-4-azidobenzoate was used to covalently bind [3H]cytochalasin B to the glucose transporter which migrated as a 45-50-kDa protein on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Isoelectric focusing of the eluted 40-55-kDa proteins revealed two peaks of D-glucose-inhibitable [3H]cytochalasin B radioactivity focusing at pH 6.4 and 5.6 when low-density microsomes were used as the starting material. In contrast, only one D-glucose inhibitable peak, focusing at pH 5.6, was found in plasma membranes. Pretreatment of the cells with insulin led to a marked redistribution of the pH 5.6 form of the glucose transporter from low-density microsomes to plasma membranes with no effect on the pH 6.4 form of the glucose transporter. Following isolation from the isoelectric focusing and sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels, both glucose transporter isoforms were shown to cross-react with an antiserum raised against the purified human erythrocyte glucose transporter. Following incubation of [3H]cytochalasin B-labeled low-density microsomal and plasma membranes with neuraminidase, the pH 5.6 transporter isoform was shifted on isoelectric focusing to a more basic pH, while the pH 6.4 isoform was not affected. These data demonstrate that: there is a heterogeneity of glucose transporter species in the intracellular pool while the plasma membrane transporters are more uniform in structure. The pH 5.6 glucose transporter isoform is translocated by insulin from the low-density microsomes to the plasma membrane but the pH 6.4 isoform is not sensitive to insulin. Differential sensitivity of the glucose transporter isoforms to neuraminidase suggests that the heterogeneity is at least partially due to differences in glycosylation state.

Studies using functional and pharmacological approaches have implicated PI 3-kinase as a key intermediate in the glucose transport and GLUT4 translocation responses to insulin. Confocal microscopy was used to investigate the effects of the PI 3-kinase inhibitor wortmannin in isolated rat adipose cells. Independent of insulin, wortmannin induces the appearance of phase-lucent vacuoles containing the endosomal markers TfR, Rab4, M6PR, and cellubrevin. When added before or with insulin, wortmannin blocks insulin-stimulated GLUT4 translocation, but does not influence the basal VAMP2-containing GLUT4 compartment. These results substantiate the concept of a specialized basal GLUT4 compartment mostly distinct from that of the recycling receptors. However, when added after insulin, wortmannin induces a rapid redistribution of GLUT4 from the cell surface into those endosomal-derived vacuoles where the GLUT4 co-localize with TfR, Rab4, cellubrevin, and VAMP2, but not with clathrin, M6PR, Golgi complex markers TGN38-mannosidase II and gamma-adaptin, and lysosomal marker lgp-120. Therefore, wortmannin also disrupts insulin-stimulated GLUT4 traffic in the recycling endosomal pathway, at a step distal to the sorting of recycling proteins from late endosomal and TGN markers; wortmannin does not appear to affect internalization from the plasma membrane, and delivery from early to late endosomes or from late endosomes to the TGN. In combination with previous kinetic biochemical studies, these results suggest that: (i) insulin stimulates the exocytosis of GLUT4 through a direct pathway from a specialized basal compartment to the plasma membrane, (ii) during endocytosis in the presence of insulin, GLUT4 is sorted out of the TfR compartment into a separate recycling pathway back to the plasma membrane, and (iii) both of these pathways involve wortmannin sensitive enzymes.

The effect of Glc deprivation (starvation) on hexose transporter (GT) polypeptide(s) (pp) was studied in 3T3-C2 murine fibroblasts. Cells deprived of Glc exhibit 5-fold increases in hexose transport and Glc-displaceable cytochalasin B binding. Immunoblots of membranes reveal a Mr 55,000 GT pp in fed (4 g of Glc/liter) cells and Mr 55,000 and Mr 42,000 GT pp in starved cells. A 10-40-fold increase in total GT pp occurs upon Glc deprivation; part of this accumulation (2-5-fold) is in the Mr 55,000 GT pp, and the remaining increase is in the Mr 42,000 GT pp. During the first 12 h of Glc deprivation only the Mr 55,000 GT pp accumulates. At later times (24-72 h) the Mr 42,000 GT pp appears and constitutes a larger fraction of the total accumulation. Similarly, the Glc concentration dependence of these phenomena reveals that the Mr 55,000 GT pp accumulates at higher concentrations of Glc (less than or equal to g/liter) than the Mr 42,000 GT pp (less than or equal to 0.5 g/liter). Using alternative nutrients, sugar analogs, and inhibitors we observed that the accumulation of total GT pp is dependent upon both hexose phosphate metabolism and the interaction of substrate with the GT. The role(s) of oligosaccharide biosynthesis, protein synthesis, and the transport process itself in the Glc deprivation-induced accumulation of GT pp were examined. The appearance of the Mr 42,000 GT pp but not the Mr 55,000 GT pp was dependent upon protein synthesis. The Glc deprivation-induced accumulation of GT pp is reversible upon refeeding with Glc (4 g/liter, 12 h). This reversal was dependent upon protein synthesis. The electrophoretic mobility of the Mr 42,000 GT pp is similar to the GT pp observed after tunicamycin treatment. The Mr 55,000 but not the Mr 42,000 GT pp binds specifically to agarose-bound wheat germ agglutinin and is sensitive to endoglycosidase F digestion. Oligosaccharide-stripped GT pp and the Mr 42,000 GT pp have the same Mr. The results suggest that the accumulation of total GT pp induced by Glc deprivation is partially independent of the effect of Glc deprivation on glycoprotein biogenesis. The appearance of the Mr 42,000 GT pp with aglyco characteristics is the result of the latter. The accumulation of total GT pp, however, is the result of a specialized and sensitive adaptation of the cell to Glc deprivation. The GT pp synthesized during chronic Glc deprivation has an Mr of 42,000; fed cells synthesize the Mr 55,000 GT pp. Neither the level of in vitro translatable GT mRNA nor the rate of GT pp synthesis are increased by Glc deprivation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Previous studies have proposed that insulin increases the binding of insulin-like growth factor II (IGF-II) in isolated rat adipose cells at 24 degrees C by increasing receptor affinity (Ka). This study re-examines these observations under conditions in which receptor-ligand internalization is blocked by 1 mM KCN. In the absence of KCN, adipose cells bind 0.71 amol of IGF-II/cell with low apparent affinity (0.030 nM-1), of which greater than 75% is not accessible to trypsin. In contrast, in the presence of KCN, IGF-II binding is decreased by 95% and its apparent affinity increased to 0.21 nM-1. Moreover, greater than 60% of the bound IGF-II now is sensitive to trypsin. In either the absence or presence of KCN, approximately 20% of the cell's total IGF-II receptors are present in the plasma membranes and approximately 80% in the low density microsomes. Insulin induces a 5-fold increase in cell surface IGF-II receptors without a change in affinity when IGF-II binding is measured in the presence of KCN. Similarly, insulin increases IGF-II receptor concentration in the plasma membranes and concomitantly decreases that in the low density microsomes. Receptor affinity in these two subcellular membrane fractions is not affected by incubation of intact cells with either insulin or KCN and is similar to that observed in intact cells in the presence of KCN. Addition of KCN prior to insulin abolishes all of these effects of insulin. These data suggest that (a) the effects of KCN reflect a selective blockade of endocytosis; (b) in the absence of KCN, IGF-II binds to receptors of constant affinity that cycle between the plasma membrane and an intracellular pool resulting in an accumulation of intracellular IGF-II; (c) insulin induces an increase in IGF-II binding by causing a steady state redistribution of receptors from this intracellular pool to the plasma membrane; and (d) this redistribution in the intact cell can only be detected using Scatchard analysis when recycling of the receptors is prevented by KCN.

Insulin shifts the steady-state subcellular distribution of insulin-like growth factor II (IGF-II) receptors from a large intracellular pool to the plasma membrane in the rat adipose cell (Wardzala, L. J., Simpson, I. A., Rechler, M. M., and Cushman, S. W. (1984) J. Biol. Chem. 259, 8378-8383). In the present study, the counterregulatory effects of adrenergic stimulation, adenosine deaminase, and cAMP on this process were studied. Both isoproterenol (10(-6) M) and adenosine deaminase reduced insulin sensitivity and also rapidly (t1/2 approximately 1.5 min) decreased the effect of a maximal insulin concentration on the number of cell surface IGF-II receptors by 35-50%, and by 70% when added together. The marked reduction in binding was retained in isolated and solubilized plasma membranes. Both isoproterenol and adenosine deaminase alone increased the EC50 for insulin from 0.06 to 0.17 nM and, when combined, to 0.6 nM. N6-Monobutyryl-cAMP and 8-bromo-cAMP were equally potent in reducing IGF-II binding in the absence of insulin and inhibited maximal insulin-stimulated IGF-II binding by 60 and 30%, respectively. However, only the nonhydrolyzable cAMP analogue, N6-monobutyryl-cAMP, reduced the insulin sensitivity (EC50 0.7 nM). An important stimulatory role for Gi (guanine nucleotide-binding regulatory protein that inhibits adenylate cyclase) was indicated by the altered activities of cells from pertussis toxin-treated animals. The results suggest that beta-adrenergic stimulation through a cAMP-dependent mechanism markedly alters the insulin-stimulated redistribution of IGF-II receptors. This effect is additional to the potent antagonistic action of cAMP on insulin's signalling mechanism.

Insulin's rapid action to increase glucose transport is believed to occur primarily through the translocation of glucose transporters from an intracellular pool to the plasma membrane. To better understand the mechanism involved, we studied the role of protein synthesis in glucose transporter translocation by using the protein synthesis inhibitor, cycloheximide. Isolated rat epididymal adipose cells were incubated in the presence or absence of cycloheximide (10 µg/ml) for a total of 120 min. Insulin (7 nM) was added to half of the cells from both groups for the final 30 min. Protein synthesis was inhibited by approximately 90%, as measured by [14C]leucine incorporation, in the cells exposed to cycloheximide. The 3-O-methylglucose uptake in intact cells was slightly increased in the basal state with cycloheximide treatment, but the insulin-stimulated 3-O-methylglucose uptake was unchanged by cycloheximide. The distribution of glucose transporters in the different subcellular membrane fractions, as measured by the cytochalasin B binding assay, was unchanged by cycloheximide. These results suggest that insulin's stimulation of glucose transport and translocation of glucose transporters can occur without acute protein synthesis.

A marked resistance to the stimulatory action of insulin on glucose metabolism has previously been shown in guinea pig, compared to rat, adipose tissue and isolated adipocytes. The mechanism of insulin resistance in isolated guinea pig adipocytes has, therefore, been examined by measuring 125I-insulin binding, the stimulatory effect of insulin on 3-0-methylglucose transport and on lipogenesis from [3-3H]glucose, the inhibitory effect of insulin on glucagon-stimulated glycerol release, and the translocation of glucose transporters in response to insulin. The translocation of glucose transporters was assessed by measuring the distribution of specific D-glucose-inhibitable [3H]cytochalasin B binding sites among the plasma, and high and low density microsomal membrane fractions prepared by differential centrifugation from basal and insulin-stimulated cells. At a glucose concentration (0.5 mM) where transport is thought to be rate-limiting for metabolism, insulin stimulates lipogenesis from 30 to 80 fmol/cell/90 min in guinea pig cells and from 25 to 380 fmol/cell/90 min in rat cells with half-maximal effects at approximately 100 pM in both cell types. Insulin similarly stimulates 3-O-methylglucose transport from 0.40 to 0.70 fmol/cell/min and from 0.24 to 3.60 fmol/cell/min in guinea pig and rat fat cells, respectively. Nevertheless, guinea pig cells bind more insulin per cell than rat cells, and insulin fully inhibits glucagon-stimulated glycerol release. In addition, the differences between guinea pig and rat cells in the stimulatory effect of insulin on lipogenesis and 3-O-methylglucose transport cannot be explained by the greater cell size of the former compared to the latter (0.18 and 0.09 micrograms of lipid/cell, respectively). However, the number of glucose transporters in the low density microsomal membrane fraction prepared from basal guinea pig cells is markedly reduced compared to that from rat fat cells (12 and 70 pmol/mg of membrane protein, respectively) and the translocation of intracellular glucose transporters to the plasma membrane fraction in response to insulin is correspondingly reduced. These results suggest that guinea pig adipocytes are markedly resistant to the stimulatory action of insulin on glucose transport and that this resistance is the consequence of a relative depletion in the number of intracellular glucose transporters.