FIG. 2.

Adipocyte exposure alters glucose metabolism in primary human myotubes. Primary human skeletal myotubes from lean (A–D) and severely obese (E–H) women were maintained 24 h in the absence or presence of human adipocytes under basal or stimulated (100 μmol/L IBMX) conditions. After 24 h of coculture, adipocytes were removed, and myotubes were washed and incubated 2 h in α-MEM containing 2 μCi/mL d-[U-¹⁴C]glucose. Rates of glycogen synthesis and glucose oxidation were determined by measuring label incorporation into glycogen (A, B, E, and F) and CO₂ (C, D, G, and H). Results are expressed as mean ± SEM and representative of at least three experiments performed in triplicate. *Significant (P < 0.05) effect of adipocyte exposure analyzed by Student t test.