The aims of this study were to investigate the impact of changing glucose concentrations in medium on deoxy-d-glucose uptake and what these conditions impact on the percent of cells with expression of chosen glucose transporters in human lymphocytes B and T.
Isolated lymphocytes B and T obtained from healthy subject were cultivated in different concentrations of glucose. The experiments were carried out using tritium labeled deoxy-d-glucose and flow cytometry.
In comparison to normoglycemia, hyperglycemia impairs the uptake of deoxy-d-glucose more than hypoglycemia. Lymphocytes B manifest significantly lower uptake of deoxy-d-glucose than lymphocytes T. Lymphocytes incubated in hyperglycemic and hypoglycemic medium show lower percent cells with expression of GLUT 1 and GLUT 3, and higher percent cells with expression of GLUT 4. The incubation of lymphocytes in hyperglycemic and hypoglycemic medium does not stimulate translocation of glucose transporters 3 and 4 to plasma membrane.
Study shows that a change in concentration of glucose in incubation environment influence intracellular expression of glucose transporters in a significant part of lymphocytes B and T.