A colorimetric bioassay for quantitation of both basal and insulin-induced glucose consumption in 3T3-L1 adipose cells.

Introduction: The quantitation of glucose consumption in animal cell cultures is mainly based on the use of radiolabeled or fluorescent analogues, resulting in expensive and tedious procedures, requiring special equipment and, sometimes, with potential health and environmental risks.

Objectives: The objective of this work was to evaluate the application of a blood plasma colorimetric assay to quantify glucose consumption in cultures of adipose cells.

Methods: We worked with 3T3-L1 adipose cells differentiated by 7-8 days, which were exposed to different initial glucose concentrations (5.