Effects of Gut Extract Protein and Insulin on Glucose Uptake and GLUT 1 Expression in HC 11 Mouse Mammary Epithelial Cells

The large and rapid changes of glucose utilization in lactating mammary tissue in response to changes in nutritional state must be largely related by external signal of insulin. This also must be related with the quantity and composition of the diet in vivo. To characterize the mode of gut extract protein with insulin, in vitro experiment was conducted with HC11 cells. The gut extract protein has not only the same effect as insulin alone but also the synergistic effect with insulin in 2-Deoxy[3H] glucose uptake. Although the gut extract did not modulates glucose uptake via increasing the rate of translation of the GLUT1 protein, northern blot analysis indicated that the gut extract protein increased the expression of GLUT1 mRNA by a threefold and also there was a dose-dependent increase in the expression of GLUT1 mRNA. The gut extract protein is therefore shown to be capable of modulating glucose uptake by transcription level with insulin in HC 11 cells.