A semiquantitative method using immunocytochemistry on ultrathin cryosections and the protein A-gold technique was performed to study the effect of insulin on the cellular distribution of the glucose transporters in cultured 3T3-L1 adipocytes. In basal cells a substantial portion of the label was present in a tubulovesicular structure at the trans side of the Golgi apparatus, likely to represent the trans-Golgi reticulum, and in small vesicles present in the cytoplasm. Treatment with insulin induced a rapid translocation of transporters from the tubulovesicular structure to the plasma membrane. The transporter labeling of the plasma membrane increased three-fold and that of the tubulovesicular structure decreased by half. There was no effect of insulin on the degree of label in the small cytoplasmic vesicles. Removal of insulin from stimulated cells rapidly reversed the distribution of transporters to that seen in basal cells. This study thus provides the first morphological evidence for the occurrence of transporter translocation in insulin action and identifies for the first time the intracellular location of the responsive transporters.
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1 January 1988
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January 01 1988
Insulin-induced translocation of glucose transporters from post-Golgi compartments to the plasma membrane of 3T3-L1 adipocytes.
J Blok,
J Blok
Department of Cell Biology, State University of Utrecht, The Netherlands.
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E M Gibbs,
E M Gibbs
Department of Cell Biology, State University of Utrecht, The Netherlands.
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G E Lienhard,
G E Lienhard
Department of Cell Biology, State University of Utrecht, The Netherlands.
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J W Slot,
J W Slot
Department of Cell Biology, State University of Utrecht, The Netherlands.
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H J Geuze
H J Geuze
Department of Cell Biology, State University of Utrecht, The Netherlands.
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J Blok
Department of Cell Biology, State University of Utrecht, The Netherlands.
E M Gibbs
Department of Cell Biology, State University of Utrecht, The Netherlands.
G E Lienhard
Department of Cell Biology, State University of Utrecht, The Netherlands.
J W Slot
Department of Cell Biology, State University of Utrecht, The Netherlands.
H J Geuze
Department of Cell Biology, State University of Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Online ISSN: 1540-8140
Print ISSN: 0021-9525
J Cell Biol (1988) 106 (1): 69–76.
Citation
J Blok, E M Gibbs, G E Lienhard, J W Slot, H J Geuze; Insulin-induced translocation of glucose transporters from post-Golgi compartments to the plasma membrane of 3T3-L1 adipocytes.. J Cell Biol 1 January 1988; 106 (1): 69–76. doi: https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.106.1.69
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