Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) is an incretin with glucose-dependent insulinotropic and insulin-independent antidiabetic
properties that exerts insulin-like effects on glucose metabolism in rat liver, skeletal muscle, and fat. This study aimed
to search for the effect of a prolonged treatment, 3 ds, with GLP-1 on glucotransporter GLUT2 expression in liver, and on
that of GLUT4 in skeletal muscle and fat, in rats. Normal rats and streptozotocin-induced type 1 and type 2 diabetic models
were used; diabetic rats were also treated with insulin for comparison. In normal rats, GLP-1 treatment reduced in the three
tissues the correponding glucotransporter protein level, without modifying their mRNA. In the type 2 diabetic model, GLP-1,
like insulin, stimulated in liver and fat only the glucotransporter translational process, while in the muscle an effect at
the GLUT4 transcriptional level was also observed. In the type 1 diabetic model, GLP-1 apparently exerted in the liver only
a posttranslational effect on GLUT2 expression; in muscle and fat, while insulin was shown to have an action on GLUT4 at both
transcriptional and translational levels, the effect of GLP-1 was restricted to glucotransporter translation. In normal and
diabetic rats, exogenous GLP-1 controlled the glucotransporter expression in extrapancreatic tissues participating in the
overall glucose homeostasis—liver, muscle, and fat—where the effect of the peptide seems to be exerted only at the translational
and/or posttranslational level; in muscle and fat, the presence of insulin seems to be required for GLP-1 to activate the
transcriptional process. The stimulating action of GLP-1 on GLUT2 and GLUT4 expression, mRNA or protein, could be a mechanism
by which, at least in part, the peptide exerts its lowering effect of blood glucose.
Key words Diabetes - glucotransporters - glucagon-like peptide-1