ApoA-1 improves glucose tolerance by increasing glucose uptake into heart and skeletal muscle independently of AMPKα2

Objective Acute administration of the main protein component of high-density lipoprotein, apolipoprotein A-I (ApoA-1), improves glucose uptake in skeletal muscle. The molecular mechanisms mediating this are not known, but in muscle cell cultures, ApoA-1 failed to increase glucose uptake when infected with a dominant-negative AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) virus. We therefore investigated whether AMPK is necessary for ApoA-1-stimulated glucose uptake in intact heart and skeletal muscle in vivo. Methods The effect of injection with recombinant human ApoA-1 (rApoA-1) on glucose tolerance, glucose-stimulated insulin secretion, and glucose uptake into skeletal and heart muscle with and without block of insulin secretion by injection of epinephrine (0.1 mg/kg) and propranolol (5 mg/kg), were investigated in 8 weeks high-fat diet-fed (60E%) wild-type and AMPKα2 kinase-dead mice in the overnight-fasted state. In addition, the effect of rApoA-1 on glucose uptake in isolated skeletal muscle ex vivo was studied. Results rApoA-1 lowered plasma glucose concentration by 1.7 mmol/l within 3 h (6.1 vs 4.4 mmol/l; p
Highlights • Apolipoprotein A-1 (ApoA-1) administration improves glucose tolerance in obese mice. • ApoA-1 enhances insulin secretion, but increases also glucose uptake into heart and skeletal muscle independently of this. • ApoA-1-induced glucose uptake in skeletal muscle in vivo occurs independently of AMPKα2. • Akt signaling and systemic effects such as perfusion of the muscle seem to be important for ApoA-1-induced glucose uptake.