In many cells and specially in muscle, mitochondria form elongated filaments or a branched reticulum. We show that Mfn2 (mitofusin 2), a mitochondrial membrane protein that participates in mitochondrial fusion in mammalian cells, is induced during myogenesis and contributes to the maintenance and operation of the mitochondrial network. Repression of Mfn2 caused morphological and functional fragmentation of the mitochondrial network into independent clusters. Concomitantly, repression of Mfn2 reduced glucose oxidation, mitochondrial membrane potential, cell respiration, and mitochondrial proton leak. We also show that the Mfn2-dependent mechanism of mitochondrial control is disturbed in obesity by reduced Mfn2 expression. In all, our data indicate that Mfn2 expression is crucial in mitochondrial metabolism through the maintenance of the mitochondrial network architecture, and reduced Mfn2 expression may explain some of the metabolic alterations associated with obesity.

We characterized metabolic and mitogenic signaling pathways in isolated skeletal muscle from well-matched t y p e 2 diabetic and control subjects. Time course studies of the insulin receptor, insulin receptor substrate ( I R S )-1/2, and phosphatidylinositol (PI) 3-k i n a s e revealed that signal transduction through this pathway was engaged between 4 and 40 min. Insulin-stimulated ( 0 . 6 -6 0 nmol/l) tyrosine phosphorylation of the insulin receptor -subunit, mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase phosphorylation, and glycogen synthase activity were not altered in type 2 diabetic subjects. In contrast, insulin-stimulated tyrosine phosphorylation of IRS-1 and anti-phosphotyrosine-associated PI 3-kinase activity were reduced 40-55% in type 2 diabetic subjects at high insulin concentrations (2.4 and 60 nmol/l, respectively). Impaired glucose transport activity was noted at all insulin concentrations (0.6-60 nmol/l). Aberrant protein expression cannot account for these insulin-signaling defects because expression of insulin receptor, IRS-1, IRS-2, MAP kinase, or glycogen synthase was similar between type 2 diabetic and control subjects. In skeletal muscle from type 2 diabetic subjects, IRS-1 phosphorylation, PI 3-kinase activity, and glucose transport activity were impaired, whereas insulin receptor tyrosine phosphorylation, MAP kinase phosphorylation, and glycogen synthase activity were normal. Impaired insulin signal transduction in skeletal muscle from type 2 diabetic patients may partly account for reduced insulin-stimulated glucose transport; however, additional defects are likely to play a role. D i a b e t e s 4 9 :2 8 4-292, 2000 S keletal muscle is a primary site of insulin-stimulated glucose disposal, which accounts for 70-80% of postprandial glucose disposal (1). In vivo studies reveal that insulin resistance in skeletal muscle is one of the first measurable defects associated with type 2 diabetes (2,3). The molecular basis for the development of whole-body insulin resistance remains unclear, although decreased insulin-stimulated glucose transport activity has been observed in isolated skeletal muscle from lean and obese people with type 2 diabetes (4-8). Because glucose transport is an early step in peripheral glucose utilization, a defect in glucose transport most likely plays a major role in the pathogenesis of peripheral insulin resistance (9). Thus, an understanding of the mechanisms that control glucose transport into insulin-sensitive tissues is essential to develop strategies for reestablishing normal glucose homeostasis in people with type 2 diabetes.Insulin-stimulated glucose transport is achieved by translocation of the major insulin-responsive glucose transp o r t e r, GLUT4, from an intracellular vesicle storage site to the plasma membrane and transverse tubules (10-12). Reduced glucose transport activity in skeletal muscle from people with type 2 diabetes may be a consequence of impaired insulin signal transduction (13,14) and/or alterations in the traffic and translocation of GLUT4 to the...

Exercise can induce short-term increases in the sensitivity and responsiveness of skeletal muscle glucose transport to insulin. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of carbohydrate deprivation on the persistence of increased insulin sensitivity and responsiveness after a bout of exercise. Three hours after a bout of exercise, epitrochlearis muscles from carbohydrate-deprived (fat fed) rats showed a 25% greater increase in 3-O-methylglucose (3-MG) transport in response to a maximal insulin stimulus compared with muscles of nonexercised rats; this increase in insulin responsiveness had reversed 18 h postexercise. Muscles of rats fed carbohydrate showed no increase in insulin responsiveness 3 h after exercise. The effect of 60 microU/ml of insulin on 3-MG transport was approximately twofold greater in muscles studied 3 h after exercise than in nonexercised controls regardless of dietary carbohydrate intake. This increase in insulin sensitivity was lost within 18 h in carbohydrate-fed rats but persisted for at least 48 h in carbohydrate-deprived rats. Muscle glycogen increased approximately 41 mumol/g in the rats fed carbohydrate for 18 h, and only approximately 14.5 mumol/g in the rats fed fat for 48 h, after exercise. The persistent increase in insulin sensitivity after exercise in carbohydrate-deprived rats was unrelated to caloric intake, as muscles of fasted and fat-fed rats behaved similarly.

We investigated the response of the glucose transport system to insulin, in the presence of ambient glucose concentrations, in isolated skeletal muscle from seven patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) (age, 55 +/- 3 years, BMI 27.4 +/- 1.8 kg/m2) and seven healthy control subjects (age, 54 +/- 3 years, BMI 26.5 +/- 1.1 kg/m2). Insulin-mediated whole body glucose utilization was similar between the groups when studied in the presence of ambient glucose concentrations (approximately 10 mmol/l for the NIDDM patients and 5 mmol/l for the control subjects). Samples were obtained from the vastus lateralis muscle, by means of an open muscle biopsy procedure, before and after a 40-min insulin infusion. An increase in serum insulin levels from 54 +/- 12 to 588 +/- 42 pmol/l, induced a 1.6 +/- 0.2-fold increase in glucose transporter protein (GLUT4) in skeletal muscle plasma membranes obtained from the control subjects (p < 0.05), whereas no significant increase was noted in plasma membrane fractions prepared from NIDDM muscles, despite a similar increase in serum insulin levels. At concentrations of 5 mmol/l 3-O-methylglucose in vitro, insulin (600 pmol/l) induced a 2.2-fold (p < 0.05) increase in glucose transport in NIDDM muscles and a 3.4-fold (p < 0.001) increase in the control muscles. Insulin-stimulated 3-O-methylglucose transport was positively correlated with whole body insulin-mediated glucose uptake in all participants (r = 0.78, p < 0.001) and negatively correlated with fasting plasma glucose levels in the NIDDM subjects (r = 0.93, p < 0.001). Muscle fibre type distribution and capillarization were similar between the groups. Our results suggest that insulin-stimulated glucose transport in skeletal muscle from patients with NIDDM is down-regulated in the presence of hyperglycaemia. The increased flux of glucose as a consequence of hyperglycaemia may result in resistance to any further insulin-induced gain of GLUT4 at the level of the plasma membrane.