Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0011849 (diabetes)
 277,896 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Skeletal muscles in patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) are resistant to insulin; i.e., the effect of insulin on glucose disposal is reduced compared with the effect in control subjects. This defect has been found to be localized to the nonoxidative pathway of glucose disposal; hence, the deposition of glucose, as glycogen, is abnormally low. This defect may be inherited, because it is present in first-degree relatives to NIDDM patients two to three decades before they develop frank diabetes mellitus. The cellular defects responsible for the abnormal insulin action in NIDDM patients is reviewed in this article. The paper focuses mainly on convalent insulin signaling. Insulin is postulated to stimulate glucose storage by initiating a cascade of phosphorylation and dephosphorylation events, which results in dephosphorylation and hence activation of the enzyme glycogen synthase. Glycogen synthase is the key enzyme in regulation of glycogen synthesis in the skeletal muscles of humans. This enzyme is sensitive to insulin, but in NIDDM patients it has been shown to be completely resistant to insulin stimulation when measured at euglycemia. The enzyme seems to be locked in the glucose-6-phosphate (G-6-P)-dependent inactive D-form. This hypothesis is favored by the finding of reduced activity of the glycogen synthase phosphatase and increased activity of the respective kinase cAMP-dependent protein kinase. A reduced glycogen synthase activity has also been found in normoglycemic first-degree relatives of NIDDM patients, indicating that this abnormality precedes development of hyperglycemia in subjects prone to develop NIDDM. Therefore, this defect may be of primary genetic origin. However, it does not appear to be a defect in the enzyme itself, but rather a defect in the covalent activation of the enzyme system. Glycogen synthase is resistant to insulin but may be activated allosterically by G-6-P. This means that the defect in insulin activation can be compensated for by increased intracellular concentrations of G-6-P. In fact, we found that both hyperinsulinemia and hyperglycemia are able to increase the G-6-P level in skeletal muscles. Thus, insulin resistance in the nonoxidative pathway of glucose processing can be overcomed (compensated) by hyperinsulinemia and hyperglycemia. In conclusion, we hypothesize that insulin resistance in skeletal muscles may be a primary genetic defect preceding the diabetic state. The cellular abnormality responsible for that may be a reduced covalent insulin activation of the enzyme glycogen synthase.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Diabetes Care 1992 Mar
PMID:Insulin resistance in skeletal muscles in patients with NIDDM. 155 9

Investigations in our laboratory have shown that the activity of glycogen synthase phosphatase in the liver is shared by at least two functionally distinct proteins: a G-component, which is tightly associated with glycogen particles, and a soluble S-component. Most preparations of glycogen synthase-b that are isolated from the liver of fed glucagon-treated animals require the presence of both components in order to be converted to synthase-a. The G-component is subject to control mechanisms that do not affect the S-component. Its activity is strongly inhibited by phosphorylase-a. This feature explains why glycogen synthesis and glycogenolysis do not normally occur simultaneously, except in the glycogen-depleted liver, where a futile cycle may occur. Experiments in vitro have shown that a minimal glycogen concentration is required to ensure the interaction between the G-component and phosphorylase-a. The G-component is also selectively inhibited by Ca2+, and the magnitude of this inhibition depends markedly on the glycogen concentration. The latter inhibition is probably one of the mechanisms by which cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP)-independent glycogenolytic agents achieve the inactivation of glycogen synthase in the liver. Glucocorticoid hormones and insulin are required for the induction and/or maintenance of the G-component in the liver. During the development of the fetal rat, glucocorticoids induce the G-component in the liver. This is an essential event in the glucocorticoid-triggered deposition of glycogen in the fetal liver. A functional adrenal cortex is also required in the adult animal to prevent a loss of the capacity for hepatic glycogen storage during starvation. The latter capacity depends on the concentration of functional G-component in the liver. Chronic diabetes causes a similar functional loss. However, the effect of glucocorticoids is not mediated by a putative secretion of insulin.
Diabetes Metab Rev 1987 Jan
PMID:Control of glycogen synthesis in health and disease. 303 40

In diabetic animals and humans, stimulation of liver glycogen synthesis has been reported after administration of a large parenteral fructose load. The effects of an oral fructose load have not been examined previously. In the diabetic state, glycogen synthase phosphatase activity is reduced, and synthase D (the inactive form) is a poor substrate for the phosphatase. Thus, activation of synthase to the synthase R and synthase I (R + I) (active) forms by fructose would not be expected. We have determined that oral fructose administration does stimulate glycogen synthesis and have examined the mechanism by which this is accomplished. In 24-h-fasted alloxan diabetic rats, basal liver glycogen was higher than in normal rats (8.3 +/- 1.8 vs. 3.0 +/- 0.5 mg/g wet wt). After fructose (4 g/kg) was given, the initial rate of glycogen synthesis was normal in diabetic rats, but total glycogen synthesis was reduced. By 240 min, liver glycogen increased to 18 +/- 4.0 mg/g wet wt in diabetic rats versus 30.5 +/- 1.5 mg/g wet wt in normal rats. Synthase R + I was low and did not increase significantly (0.063 +/- 0.006 to 0.064 +/- 0.010 U/g wet wt) after fructose administration to the diabetic animals. Phosphorylase a did not decrease significantly during the period of active glycogen synthesis. In the diabetic rats, glucose-6-phosphate increased by 84% (0.103 +/- 0.010 to 0.184 +/- 0.020 mumol/g wet wt) within 10 min and remained elevated above the control level. UDPglucose decreased from 0.336 +/- 0.013 to 0.271 +/- 0.011 mumol/g wet wt at 10 min and remained below the control level.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Diabetes 1986 Jun
PMID:Mechanism of stimulation of liver glycogen synthesis by fructose in alloxan diabetic rats. 308 65

The effects of diabetes mellitus on glycogen synthase and its activating system (synthase phosphatase) were studied using human polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN). PMN were obtained from control subjects and diabetic patients by a gradient sedimentation technique. Enzyme activities of endogenous synthase-l and total synthase were not statistically different in diabetic and control cells. For measurement of endogenous synthase phosphatase, cells were sonicated in 50 mM Tris buffer (pH 7.5) and incubated at 30 degrees C. Conversion of synthase-D to -l and the maximum percent synthase-l attained were decreased in homogenates of diabetic cells. There was no correlation between the plasma glucose concentration and the rate of conversion of synthase-D to -l. Synthase phosphatase activities were also measured using a purified synthase-D substrate. Under these experimental conditions, glycogen synthase phosphatase activities did not differ in control and diabetic cells. These results are consistent with a diabetes-induced defect in conversion of endogenous synthase-D to -l at the level of the synthase enzyme rather than at that of the activating phosphatase.
Diabetes 1980 Mar
PMID:Impaired glycogen synthase activating system in human diabetic polymorphonuclear leukocytes. 624 32

Insulin treatment significantly altered the elution profile of deproteinized muscle extracts chromatographed on Sephadex G-25 columns, particularly in fraction II, which contains the insulin mediator. Further purification of fraction II by high-voltage paper electrophoresis at pH 1.9 and 3.5 resulted in two active fractions. Fraction 1 leads to 4 stimulated the cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase and inhibited glycogen synthase phosphoprotein phosphatase, and may be a novel substance. Fractions 1 leads to 6 and 3 leads to 6 inhibited the cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase and stimulated glycogen synthase phosphatase. It is proposed that the insulin mediator is present in fractions 1 leads to 6 and 3 leads to 6.
Diabetes 1980 Aug
PMID:Studies on the insulin mediator. II. Separation of two antagonistic biologically active materials from fraction II. 625 25

Perfused livers from normal and alloxan-diabetic rats were studied to determine whether the diabetes-related decrease in glycogen synthase phosphatase was due to an alteration of the synthase molecule, an increase in synthase phosphatase activity inhibition by phosphorylase a, or generation of inhibitor of the phosphatase. With purified rat liver synthase as substrate for the phosphatase, the diabetic tissue remained 90-95% deficient in the ability to catalyze synthase D to I conversion, showing that the defect cannot be solely due to an altered substrate. When synthase phosphatase assays were carried out in the presence of rat liver glycogen phosphorylase antiserum, phosphatase activity remained 70-75% deficient in diabetic tissue. Therefore, the defect cannot be attributed to increased inhibition of synthase phosphatase by increased amounts of phosphorylase a. When synthase phosphatase assays were run by mixing extracts from normal and diabetic livers, phosphatase activity was additive, indicating that a phosphatase inhibitor was probably not involved in the phosphatase deficiency in the diabetic. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that the diabetes-related defect in glucose regulation of hepatic glycogen synthase is due to a molecular alteration or a deficiency of a specific glycogen synthase phosphatase.
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PMID:Alteration of hepatic glycogen synthase phosphatase activity by insulin deficiency. 626 5

Glucose and gluconeogenic substrates promote the activation of hepatic glycogen synthase in vivo and in vitro; activation occurs as inactive glycogen synthase D is dephosphorylated to active glycogen synthase I by glycogen synthase phosphatase. Impairments of glycogen accumulation and glycogen synthase activation in diabetes have been attributed to decreased glycogen synthase phosphatase activity. To determine the role of glycogen synthase phosphatases associated with cytosol and smooth endoplasmic reticulum in the impairment of glycogen synthase activation, livers of normal and streptozotocin-diabetic fed rats were sampled by freeze-clamping before and after perfusion with a mixture of 25 mM glucose, 10 mM glutamine, 4 mM lactate, and 1 mM pyruvate. Perfusion induced activation of glycogen synthase in normal rats, but activation was reduced in the diabetic rats in proportion to the severity of insulin deficiency (r = 0.72, P less than 0.0001). There was also a close correlation between insulin levels and glycogen synthase phosphatase activities of both cytosol (r = 0.76, P less than 0.0001) and SER (r = 0.71, P less than 0.0001) fractions. In contrast, glycogen phosphorylase phosphatase activity and inactivation of glycogen phosphorylase during perfusion were normal in the diabetic livers. This is the first demonstration that glycogen synthase phosphatase activities in both soluble and SER fractions of liver cells are closely related to circulating insulin levels, and that the impairment of glycogen synthesis in diabetes may result from deficient glycogen synthase phosphatase activity in both cell compartments.
Diabetes 1983 Dec
PMID:Impaired glycogenic substrate activation of glycogen synthase is associated with depressed synthase phosphatase activity in diabetic rat liver. 631 99

Glycogen synthase in skeletal muscle of 3-day alloxan-diabetic rats was found to be in a less active state than in normal muscle. Both the activity ratio (activity without G6P divided by activity with 7.2 mM G6P at 4.4 mM UDPG, pH 7.8) and fractional velocity (activity with 0.25 mM G6P divided by activity with 10 mM G6P at 0.03 mM UDPG, pH 6.9) were significantly lower in the diabetic tissue. Correspondingly, the S0.5 for UDPG and A0.5 for G6P were significantly higher in diabetic tissue, suggesting decreased affinity for substrate and activator, respectively. The kinetic changes in the diabetic synthase were identical whether the alloxan-treated animals were maintained on insulin for 7 days prior to withdrawal for 3 days, or studied 3 days immediately after alloxan treatment. The diabetes-induced changes in synthase could be reversed by injecting the diabetic rat with insulin 10 min prior to sacrifice. After insulin treatment, the S0.5 for UDPG and A0.5 for G6P decreased to control levels or lower and the activity ratios and fractional velocities increased to control levels or higher. The activity of glycogen synthase phosphatase was not decreased in diabetic skeletal muscle. This observation, coupled with the rapid response of the diabetic synthase to in vivo insulin treatment, suggests that, unlike the phosphatase in cardiac muscle and liver, the glycogen synthase phosphatase in skeletal muscle is not altered by the diabetic state.
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PMID:Glycogen synthase in diabetic rat skeletal muscle: activation by insulin. 681 78

The Goto-Kakizaki (G/K) rat is an animal model of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, with early hyperglycaemia, hyperinsulinaemia, and insulin resistance. We have studied the effect of insulin on the activation of glycogen synthase in the G/K rat and in the original parent strain, the Wistar rat. After insulin injection, glycogen synthase I activity, glycogen synthase phosphatase activity and glucose 6-phosphate content in skeletal muscle were significantly increased in the Wistar rats. In the G/K rats, insulin injection resulted in a reduced activation of skeletal muscle glycogen synthase, which was not significant when compared with the control rats without insulin, and no increases in glycogen synthase phosphatase and glucose 6-phosphate were seen. In adipose tissue the activation of glycogen synthase by insulin was normal in the G/K rats. Previous investigations have shown that glucose disappearance rates are low in the G/K rat. However, stimulation of glucose transport was reported to be normal in the G/K rat. A defective activation of glucose accumulation into glycogen by skeletal muscle may contribute to explain the hyperglycaemia in the G/K rat.
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PMID:Impaired skeletal muscle glycogen synthase activation by insulin in the Goto-Kakizaki (G/K) rat. 780 17

The metabolism of the storage polysaccharide glycogen is intimately linked with insulin action and blood glucose homeostasis. Insulin activates both glucose transport and glycogen synthase in skeletal muscle. The central issue of a long-standing debate is which of these two effects determines the rate of glycogen synthesis in response to insulin. Recent studies with transgenic animals indicate that, under appropriate conditions, each process can contribute to determining the extent of glycogen accumulation. Insulin causes stable activation of glycogen synthase by promoting dephosphorylation of multiple sites in the enzyme. A model linking this action to the mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathway via the phosphorylation of the regulatory subunit of glycogen synthase phosphatase gained widespread acceptance. However, the most recent evidence argues strongly against this mechanism. A newer model, in which insulin inactivates the enzyme glycogen synthase kinase-3 via the protein kinase B pathway, has emerged. Though promising, this model still does not completely explain the molecular basis for the insulin-mediated activation of glycogen synthase, which remains one of the many unknowns of insulin action.
Diabetes 1997 Apr
PMID:New insights into the role and mechanism of glycogen synthase activation by insulin. 907 92


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