Leucine Metabolism Inhibits Cardiac Glucose Uptake

Does the branch chain amino acid leucine mediate cardiac insulin resistance? Listen as Associate Editor Gary Lopaschuk (University of Alberta) interviews lead author Luc Bertrand (Université Catholique de Louvain) and content expert Ravichandran Ramasamy (NYU Langone Medical Center) about the recent work by Renguet et al which investigated whether leucine is simply a biomarker of type 2 diabetes or a factor of the metabolic inflexibility which is a hallmark of type 2 diabetes pathogenesis. Bertrand and colleagues showed that the inhibitory reaction of leucine and ketone bodies in glucose transport requires an increase in protein acetylation, which then contributes to the inhibition of cardiac glucose uptake by hampering the translocation of glucose transporter 4 (GLUT4) to the plasma membrane. This new study by Bertrand and colleagues may be “a new piece in the complex puzzle of cardiac insulin resistance.” Listen and learn more.

 

Edith Renguet, Audrey Ginion, Roselle Gélinas, Laurent Bultot, Julien Auquier, Isabelle Robillard Frayne, Caroline Daneault, Jean-Louis Vanoverschelde, Christine Des Rosiers, Louis Hue, Sandrine Horman, Christophe Beauloye, Luc Bertrand Metabolism and acetylation contribute to leucine-mediated inhibition of cardiac glucose uptake Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol, published online June 23, 2017. DOI: 10.1152/ajpheart.00738.2016