Persistent increase in glucose uptake by rat skeletal muscle following exercise

The effect of a bout of exercise on glucose uptake and glycogen synthesis in skeletal muscle was examined using a perfused rat hindlimb preparation. Rats were subjected to a bout of swimming. The exercise stress was moderate as reflected in a reduction of muscle glycogen concentration of only 50%. Glucose uptake and glycogen synthesis were measured in perfused hindlimb muscles for a 30-min period beginning approximately 60 min following the exercise. The rate of glucose uptake in the absence of insulin was 10-fold higher in hindlimbs of exercised animals than in the controls. The rate of glucose uptake was also higher in exercised than in control muscles in the presence of 50 microunits/ml or 10 mU/ml of insulin, but these differences were smaller than that found in the absence of insulin. Conversion to glycogen was the major pathway for disposal of the glucose taken up by muscle. The rate of glycogen accumulation in the exercised plantaris muscles was greater than in the control muscles both in the absence and presence of insulin.