Lipocalin-type prostaglandin D2 synthase stimulates glucose transport via enhanced GLUT4 translocation

Previously, we demonstrated that lipocalin-type prostaglandin D2 synthase (L-PGDS) knockout mice become glucose intolerant and display signs of diabetic nephropathy and accelerated atherosclerosis. In the current study we sought to explain the link between L-PGDS and glucose tolerance. Using the insulin-sensitive rat skeletal muscle cell line, L6, we showed that L-PGDS could stimulate glucose transport approximately 2-fold as well as enhance insulin-stimulated glucose transport, as measured by 2-deoxy-[3H]-glucose uptake. The increased glucose transport was not attributed to increased GLUT4 production but rather the stimulation of GLUT4 translocation to the plasma membrane, a phenomenon that was lost when cells were cultured under hyperglycemic (20 mM) conditions or pretreated with wortmannin. There was however, an increase in GLUT1 expression as well as a 3-fold increase in hexokinase III expression, which was increased to nearly 5-fold in the presence of insulin, in response to L-PGDS at 20 mM glucose. In addition, adipocytes isolated from L-PGDS knockout mice were significantly less sensitive to insulin-stimulated glucose transport than wild-type. We conclude that L-PGDS, via production of prostaglandin D2, is an important mediator of muscle and adipose glucose transport which is modulated by glycemic conditions and plays a significant role in the glucose intolerance associated with type 2 diabetes.