Impaired insulin-stimulated glucose transport in ATM-deficient mouse skeletal muscle.

There are reports that ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM) plays a role in insulin-stimulated Akt phosphorylation, although this is not the case in some cell types. Because Akt plays a key role in insulin signaling, which leads to glucose transport in skeletal muscle, the predominant tissue in insulin-stimulated glucose disposal, we examined whether insulin-stimulated Akt phosphorylation and (or) glucose transport would be decreased in skeletal muscle of mice lacking functional ATM, compared with muscle from wild-type mice. We found that in vitro insulin-stimulated Akt phosphorylation was normal in soleus muscle from mice with 1 nonfunctional allele of ATM (ATM+/-) and from mice with 2 nonfunctional alleles (ATM-/-). However, insulin did not stimulate glucose transport or the phosphorylation of AS160 in ATM-/- soleus. ATM protein level was markedly higher in wild-type extensor digitorum longus (EDL) than in wild-type soleus. In EDL from ATM-/- mice, insulin did not stimulate glucose transport. However, in contrast to findings for soleus, insulin-stimulated Akt phosphorylation was blunted in ATM-/- EDL, concomitant with a tendency for insulin-stimulated phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase activity to be decreased. Together, the findings suggest that ATM plays a role in insulin-stimulated glucose transport at the level of AS160 in muscle comprised of slow and fast oxidative-glycolytic fibers (soleus) and at the level of Akt in muscle containing fast glycolytic fibers (EDL).

Ataxia telangiectasia mutated impacts insulin-like growth factor 1 signalling in skeletal muscle.

Reports that ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM) is required for full activation of Akt raise the hypothesis that ATM plays a role in insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) signalling through the Akt/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway. Differentiated C2C12 cells harbouring either ATM-targeting short hairpin RNA (shRNA) or non-targeting shRNA and myotubes from a C2C12 lineage previously exposed to empty vector lentivirus were incubated in the presence or absence of 10 nm IGF-1 followed by Western blot analysis. Parallel experiments were performed in isolated soleus muscles from mice expressing only one functional ATM allele (ATM(+/-)) compared with muscles from wild-type (ATM(+/+)) mice. Insulin-like growth factor 1 increased phosphorylation of Akt S473, Akt T308 and p70 S6 kinase (S6K) in myotubes expressing non-targeting shRNA and in empty vector controls, but the IGF-1 effects were significantly reduced in myotubes with shRNA-mediated ATM knockdown. Likewise, IGF-1-stimulated phosphorylation of Akt S473, Akt T308, mTOR and S6K was lower in isolated soleus muscles from ATM(+/-) mice compared with muscles from ATM(+/+) mice. The ATM inhibitor KU55933 prevented stimulation of S6K phosphorylation in C2C12 myotubes exposed to IGF-1, suggesting that decreased IGF-1 action is not limited to chronic conditions of decreased ATM function. Stimulation of insulin receptor substrate 1 tyrosine 612 phosphorylation by IGF-1 was unaffected by ATM deficiency, though IGF-1 phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase activity tended to be lower in muscle from ATM haploinsufficient mice compared with wild-type muscle. The data suggest that ATM is a modulator of IGF-1 signalling downstream of insulin receptor substrate 1 in skeletal muscle.

Ataxia telangiectasia mutated influences cytochrome c oxidase activity.

Cells lacking ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM) have impaired mitochondrial function. Furthermore, mammalian cells lacking ATM have increased levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) as well as mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) deletions in the region encoding for cytochrome c oxidase (COX). We hypothesized that ATM specifically influences COX activity in skeletal muscle. COX activity was ∼40% lower in tibialis anterior from ATM-deficient mice than for wild-type mice (P < 0.01, n = 9/group). However, there were no ATM-related differences in activity of succinate dehydrogenase, isocitrate dehydrogenase, alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase, mitochondrial glycerol 3-phosphate dehydrogenase, or complex III. Incubation of wild-type extensor digitorum longus muscles for 1h with the ATM inhibitor KU55933 caused a ∼50% reduction (P<0.05, n = 5/group) in COX activity compared to muscles incubated with vehicle alone. Among the control muscles and muscles treated with the ATM inhibitor, COX activity was correlated (r = 0.61, P<0.05) with activity of glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase, a key determinant of antioxidant defense through production of NADPH. Overall, the findings suggest that ATM has a protective role for COX activity.

A role for AMPK in increased insulin action after serum starvation.

Serum starvation is a common cell culture procedure for increasing cellular response to insulin, though the mechanism for the serum starvation effect is not understood. We hypothesized that factors known to potentiate insulin action [e.g., AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and p38] or to be involved in insulin signaling leading to glucose transport [e.g., Akt, PKCζ, AS160, and ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM)] would be phosphorylated during serum starvation and would be responsible for increased insulin action after serum starvation. L6 myotubes were incubated in serum-containing or serum-free medium for 3 h. Levels of phosphorylated AMPK, Akt, and ATM were greater in serum-starved cells than in control cells. Serum starvation did not affect p38, PKCζ, or AS160 phosphorylation or insulin-stimulated Akt or AS160 phosphorylation. Insulin had no effect on glucose transport in control cells but caused an increase in glucose uptake for serum-starved cells that was preventable by compound C (an AMPK inhibitor), by expression of dominant negative AMPK (AMPK-DN), and by KU55933 (an ATM inhibitor). ATM protein levels increased during serum starvation, and this increase in ATM was prevented by compound C and AMPK-DN. Thus, it appears that AMPK is required for the serum starvation-related increase in insulin-stimulated glucose transport, with ATM as a possible downstream effector.