Enlarged, hypertrophic adipocytes are less responsive to insulin and are a hallmark feature of obesity, contributing to many of the negative metabolic consequences of excess adipose tissue. Although the mechanisms remain unclear, the adipocyte size appears to be inversely correlated with insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance, wherein smaller adipocytes are insulin-sensitive and larger adipocytes develop insulin resistance and exhibit an impaired glucose uptake. Thus, pharmacological strategies aimed at regulating adipocyte hypertrophy (increase in adipocyte size) in favor of promoting hyperplasia (increase in adipocyte number) have the potential to improve adipocyte insulin sensitivity and provide therapeutic benefits in the context of metabolic disorders. As white adipose tissue can metabolize large amounts of glucose to lactate, using transcriptomics and in vitro characterization we explore the functional consequences of inhibiting monocarboxylate transporter 1 (MCT1) activity in fully differentiated adipocytes. Our studies show that the pharmacological inhibition of MCT1, a key regulator of the cellular metabolism and proliferation, promotes the re-entry of mature adipocytes into the cell cycle. Furthermore, we demonstrate that inhibitor-treated adipocytes exhibit an enhanced insulin-stimulated glucose uptake as compared with untreated adipocytes, and that this outcome is dependent on the cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (CDK1) activity. In summary, we identify a mechanism though which MCT1 inhibition improves the insulin sensitivity of mature adipocytes by inducing cell cycle re-entry. These results provide the foundation for future studies investigating the role MCT1 plays in adipocyte hyperplasia, and its therapeutic potential as a drug target for obesity and metabolic disease.
Keywords: MCT1; adipocytes; cell cycle; hyperplasia; insulin sensitivity; proliferation.