Differential effects of okadaic acid on insulin-stimulated glucose and amino acid uptake and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase activity.

The effect of okadaic acid, a serine/threonine phosphatase inhibitor, was analyzed in two insulin-responsive systems, the isolated mouse soleus muscle and 3T3-L1 adipocytes. While okadaic acid alone was a potent stimulator of glucose transport in both systems, it prevented transport stimulation by insulin. To gain insight into this inhibitory action, the activation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3-kinase), one of the earliest postreceptor steps identified so far, was studied. In 3T3-L1 adipocytes and muscle, insulin increased PI3-kinase activity in immunoprecipitates obtained with antibodies to phosphotyrosine. Okadaic acid alone had no effect but strongly inhibited this hormonal action. Okadaic acid treatment did not interfere with insulin-induced receptor autophosphorylation or with its tyrosine kinase activity toward artificial substrates. In contrast, in the presence of the phosphatase inhibitor, we did not observe tyrosine phosphorylation of the insulin receptor cellular substrate p185 (IRS-1) or immunoprecipitation of PI3-kinase by antibodies to phosphotyrosine. These results suggest that okadaic acid interferes with insulin's stimulation of glucose transport by inhibiting IRS-1 phosphorylation and its association with PI3-kinase and/or other signaling molecules. However, okadaic acid did not block the insulin stimulation of aminoisobutyric acid uptake in muscle. This would indicate that IRS-1 phosphorylation and PI3-kinase activation are not required for all the effects of insulin and that the serine/threonine phosphorylation events implicated in the translocation of glucose transporters are not controlling amino acid transport in muscle.