Regulation of GLUT4 biogenesis in muscle: evidence for involvement of AMPK and Ca2+

There is evidence suggesting that adaptive increases in GLUT4 and mitochondria in skeletal muscle occur in parallel. It has been reported that raising cytosolic Ca2+ in myocytes induces increases in mitochondrial enzymes. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that an increase in cytosolic Ca2+ induces an increase in GLUT4. We found that raising cytosolic Ca2+ by exposing L6 myotubes to 5 mM caffeine for 3 h/day for 5 days induced increases in GLUT4 protein and in myocyte enhancer factor (MEF)2A and MEF2D, which are transcription factors involved in regulating GLUT4 expression. The caffeine-induced increases in GLUT4 and MEF2A and MEF2D were partially blocked by dantrolene, an inhibitor of sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ release, and completely blocked by KN93, an inhibitor of Ca2+-calmodulin-dependent protein kinase (CAMK). Caffeine also induced increases in MEF2A, MEF2D, and GLUT4 in rat epitrochlearis muscles incubated with caffeine in culture medium. 5-Aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide ribonucleoside (AICAR), which activates AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), also induced approximately twofold increases in GLUT4, MEF2A, and MEF2D in L6 myocytes. Our results provide evidence that increases in cytosolic Ca2+and activation of AMPK, both of which occur in exercising muscle, increase GLUT4 protein in myocytes and skeletal muscle. The data suggest that this effect of Ca2+ is mediated by activation of CAMK and indicate that MEF2A and MEF2D are involved in this adaptive response.