INTRODUCTION Hypoxia regulates adipocyte metabolism. Hexosamine biosynthesis is implicated in murine 3T3L1 adipocyte differentiation and is a possible underlying mechanism for hypoxia's effects on adipocyte metabolism. METHODS Lipid metabolism was studied in human visceral and subcutaneous adipocytes in in vitro hypoxic culture with adipophilic staining, glycerol release, and palmitate oxidat...

Glucose is the major energy supply and a critical metabolite for most cells and is especially important when cell is differentiating. High or low concentrations of glucose enhances or inhibits the osteogenic, chondrogenic and adipogenic differentiation of cell via the insulin, transforming growth factor-β and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ pathways, among others. New evidence impl...

OBJECTIVE Sulforaphane is an activator of transcription factor NF-E2-related factor-2 (nrf2) that regulates gene expression through the promoter antioxidant response element (ARE). Nrf2 regulates the transcription of a battery of protective and metabolic enzymes. The aim of this study was to assess whether activation of nrf2 by sulforaphane in human microvascular endothelial cells prevents meta...

The nutrient sensing capacity of the hexosamine biosynthetic pathway (HBP) has been implicated in the development of insulin resistance of skeletal muscle. To study the molecular mechanism of the free fatty acid (FFA)-induced activation of the HBP myotubes obtained from muscle biopsies of metabolically characterized, subjects were stimulated with different fatty acids for 20 h. Incubation with ...

Endothelin-1 (ET-1) is a 21-amino-acid peptide that binds to G-protein-coupled receptors to evoke biological responses. Previously we have shown that ET-1 stimulates glucose uptake in 3T3-L1 adipocytes and neonatal rat cardiomyocytes, but the mechanism is not completely understood. ET-1 is known to modulate intracellular Ca(2+) and cAMP levels. Depletion of intracellular Ca(2+) by treating 3T3-...

Changes in glucose levels are known to directly alter gene expression. A number of previous studies have found that these effects are in part mediated by modulating the levels and the activity of transcription factors. We have investigated an alternative mechanism by which glucose might regulate gene expression by modulating levels of a transcriptional repressor. We have focused on Id2, which i...

Endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) is activated by phosphorylation of serine 1177 by the protein kinase Akt/PKB. Since hyperglycemia-induced mitochondrial superoxide overproduction increases O-linked N-acetylglucosamine modification and decreases O-linked phosphorylation of the transcription factor Sp1, the effect of hyperglycemia and the hexosamine pathway on eNOS was evaluated. In bovin...