The osmotic shock-induced glucose transport pathway in 3T3-L1 adipocytes is mediated by gab-1 and requires Gab-1-associated phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase activity for full activation.

Osmotic shock treatment of 3T3-L1 adipocytes causes an increase in glucose transport activity and translocation of GLUT4 protein similar to that elicited by insulin treatment. Insulin stimulation of GLUT4 translocation and glucose transport activity was completely inhibited by wortmannin, however, activation by osmotic shock was only partially blocked. Additionally, we have found that the newly identified insulin receptor substrate Gab-1 (Grb2-associated binder-1) is tyrosine-phosphorylated following sorbitol stimulation. Treatment of cells with the tyrosine kinase inhibitor genistein inhibited osmotic shock-stimulated Gab-1 phosphorylation as well as shock-induced glucose transport. Furthermore, pretreatment with the selective Src family kinase inhibitor PP2 completely inhibited the ability of sorbitol treatment to cause tyrosine phosphorylation of Gab-1. We have also shown that microinjection of anti-Gab-1 antibody inhibits osmotic shock-induced GLUT4 translocation. Furthermore, phosphorylated Gab-1 binds and activates phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) in response to osmotic shock. The PI3K activity associated with Gab-1 was 82% of that associated with anti-phosphotyrosine antibodies, indicating that Gab-1 is the major site for PI3K recruitment following osmotic shock stimulation. Although wortmannin only causes a partial block of osmotic shock-stimulated glucose uptake, wortmannin completely abolishes Gab-1 associated PI3K activity. This suggests that other tyrosine kinase-dependent pathways, in addition to the Gab-1-PI3K pathway, contribute to osmotic shock-mediated glucose transport. To date, Gab-1 is the first protein identified as a member of the osmotic shock signal transduction pathway.