Forskolin inhibits insulin-stimulated glucose transport in rat adipose cells by a direct interaction with the glucose transporter.

The mechanism of the inhibitory action of forskolin, a plant-derived stimulator of adenylate cyclase, on glucose transport in rat adipose cells was studied. Lipolysis (glycerol release) and glucose transport activity (initial 3-O-methylglucose uptake rate) were measured after treatment of intact cells. In isolated plasma membranes, D-glucose transport and glucose-inhibitable binding of cytochalasin B, a specific labeling agent for the glucose transporter, were assayed. Forskolin inhibited insulin-stimulated glucose transport in intact cells at low concentrations which failed to stimulate lipolysis. Furthermore, the adenylate cyclase inhibitor prostaglandin E2 reduced forskolin-stimulated lipolysis but failed to reverse the transport inhibition. Therefore, the effects of the agent on lipolysis appeared to be dissociable from those on glucose transport. In plasma membrane vesicles, forskolin inhibited D-glucose transport in a competitive manner by an increase in the apparent transport Km without any detectable change in Vmax. In parallel to the transport inhibition, the agent inhibited the specific binding of cytochalasin B in both plasma membranes and low density microsomes, which contain the intracellular pool of glucose transporters in insulin-sensitive cells. The Kl of this inhibition (205 nM) was very similar to that of the inhibition of glucose transport in the membrane vesicles (203 nM). It is concluded that forskolin inhibits glucose transport by a direct interaction with the transporter (or a closely related protein) rather than through activation of adenylate cyclase.