Time-dependent and tissue-specific effects of circulating glucose on fetal ovine glucose transporters

To determine the cellular adaptations to fetal hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia, we examined the time-dependent effects on basal (GLUT-1 and GLUT-3) and insulin-responsive (GLUT-4) glucose transporter proteins by quantitative Western blot analysis in fetal ovine insulin-insensitive (brain and liver) and insulin-sensitive (myocardium, skeletal muscle, and adipose) tissues. Maternal glucose infusions causing fetal hyperglycemia resulted in a transient 30% increase in brain GLUT-1 but not GLUT-3 levels and a decline in liver and adipose GLUT-1 and myocardial and skeletal muscle GLUT-1 and GLUT-4 levels compared with gestational age-matched controls. Maternal insulin infusions leading to fetal hypoglycemia caused a decline in brain GLUT-3, an increase in brain GLUT-1, and a subsequent decline in liver GLUT-1, with no significant change in insulin-sensitive myocardium, skeletal muscle, and adipose tissue GLUT-1 or GLUT-4 concentrations, compared with gestational age-matched sham controls. We conclude that fetal glucose transporters are subject to a time-dependent and tissue- and isoform-specific differential regulation in response to altered circulating glucose and/or insulin concentrations. These cellular adaptations in GLUT-1 (and GLUT-3) are geared toward protecting the conceptus from perturbations in substrate availability, and the adaptations in GLUT-4 are geared toward development of fetal insulin resistance.