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Effect of Diabetes on Glycogen Metabolism in Rat Retina

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Abstract

Glucose is the main fuel for energy metabolism in retina. The regulatory mechanisms that maintain glucose homeostasis in retina could include hormonal action. Retinopathy is one of the chemical manifestations of long-standing diabetes mellitus. In order to better understand the effect of hyperglycemia in retina, we studied glycogen content as well as glycogen synthase and phosphorylase activities in both normal and streptozotocin-induced diabetic rat retina and compared them with other tissues. Glycogen levels in normal rat retina are low (46 ± 4.0 nmol glucosyl residues/mg protein). However, high specific activity of glycogen synthase was found in retina, indicating a substantial capacity for glycogen synthesis. In diabetic rats, glycogen synthase activity increased between 50% and 100% in retina, brain cortex and liver of diabetic rats, but only retina exhibited an increase in glycogen content. Although, total and phosphorylated glycogen synthase levels were similar in normal and diabetic retina, activation of glycogen synthase by glucose-6-P was remarkable increased. Glycogen phosphorylase activity decreased 50% in the liver of diabetic animals; it was not modified in the other tissues examined. We conclude that the increase in glycogen levels in diabetic retina was due to alterations in glycogen synthase regulation.

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Abbreviations

AMP:

Adenosine monophosphate

GP:

Glycogen phosphorylase

GPa:

Glycogen phosphorylase in its active form (measured in the absence of AMP)

GS:

Glycogen synthase

GSK-3:

Glycogen synthase kinase-3

RPE:

Retinal pigment epithelium

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank H. Solis for his assistance in some experiments. This study was supported in part by CONACYT (Grant U45840-M) and by PAPIIT/UNAM project IN201707.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Neurociencias, Instituto de Fisiología Celular, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Apdo. Postal 70-253, 04510, Mexico, DF, Mexico

    Gustavo Sánchez-Chávez, Jethro Hernández-Berrones, Luis Bernardo Luna-Ulloa, Víctor Coffe & Rocío Salceda

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  1. Gustavo Sánchez-Chávez
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  2. Jethro Hernández-Berrones
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  3. Luis Bernardo Luna-Ulloa
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  4. Víctor Coffe
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  5. Rocío Salceda
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Correspondence to Rocío Salceda.

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Gustavo Sánchez-Chávez and Jethro Hernández-Berrones have contributed equally to the work and therefore should be considered equivalent authors.

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Sánchez-Chávez, G., Hernández-Berrones, J., Luna-Ulloa, L.B. et al. Effect of Diabetes on Glycogen Metabolism in Rat Retina. Neurochem Res 33, 1301–1308 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11064-007-9583-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11064-007-9583-7

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