CaMKII and Kalirin, a Rac1-GEF, regulate Akt phosphorylation involved in contraction-induced glucose uptake in skeletal muscle cells.

Rac1 plays an important role in contraction-stimulated muscle glucose uptake, but the mechanism is not fully elucidated. We previously identified Rac1-dependent activation of Akt played a partial role in contraction-stimulated GLUT4 translocation to the cell surface of C2C12 myotubes. Recognizing that contraction activates CaMKII in muscle and CaMKII is known to regulate Rac1 activity in other systems, here we investigated the relationship between CaMKII, Akt and contraction-stimulated glucose uptake.

MiR-495 regulates macrophage M1/M2 polarization and insulin resistance in high-fat diet-fed mice via targeting FTO.

MicroRNA 495 (miR-495) has been discovered to be involved in the metabolism and immune response in human body. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of miR-495 on macrophage M1/M2 polarization and insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes (T2D). A T2D mouse model was established by feeding C57BL/6 mice with a high-fat diet (HFD).

Hypoxic adipocytes induce macrophages to release inflammatory cytokines that render skeletal muscle cells insulin resistant.

Adipose tissue hypoxia occurs early in obesity and is associated with increased tissue macrophages and systemic inflammation that impacts muscle insulin responsiveness. We investigated how hypoxia interacted with adipocyte-macrophage crosstalk and inflammatory cytokine release, using co-culture and conditioned media (CM). Murine primary adipocytes from lean or obese mice were cultured under normoxic (21% O) or hypoxic (1% O) conditions.

PKC and Rab13 mediate Ca signal-regulated GLUT4 traffic.

Exercise/muscle contraction increases cell surface glucose transporter 4 (GLUT4), leading to glucose uptake to regulate blood glucose level. Elevating cytosolic Ca mediates this effect, but the detailed mechanism is not clear yet. We used calcium ionophore ionomycin to raise intracellular cytosolic Ca level to explore the underlying mechanism.

Preparation and characterization of an imprinted monolith by atom transfer radical polymerization assisted by crowding agents.

A method based on reverse atom transfer radical polymerization (R-ATRP) and molecular crowding has been used for design and synthesis of monolithic molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) capable of recognizing ibuprofen (IBU). 4-Vinylpyridine (4-VP) was used as the functional monomer, and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EDMA) was the crosslinking monomer. Azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN)-CuCl(2)-N,N,N',N",N"-pentamethyldiethylenetriamine (PMDETA) was used as the initiating system.