Visit our Expo - Redox and Inflammation signaling 2012

Session III : Protein kinase cascades as therapeutic targets Poster III, 67
Renal Akt kinase signaling in Zucker diabetic fatty rats (ZDF).
Jana Zdychova1, Jessie N. Lindsley2, Sharon Anderson2, Radko Komers1,2.
1Diabetes Center, Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine, 140 21 Prague 4,
Czech Republic; 2Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, Oregon Health&Science
University, 97239 Portland, OR, USA. E-mail: rako@medicon.cz
Impaired insulin signaling via PI-3-kinase (PI3K) and Akt in skeletal muscle, liver and fat has
been implicated in the pathophysiology of insulin resistance (IR) including Type 2 diabetes
(DM2). Kidney is also a target of insulin actions. However, unlike the skeletal muscle, renal
Akt signaling in DM2 has been so far less studied. To address this issue, renal cortical activity
and protein expression of Akt, its down-stream effector mTOR, and Akt antagonist PTEN
were studied in 4 and 12-week old ZDF (ZDF4 and ZDF12), a model of DM2, and in agematched
controls (Zucker lean, ZL4 and ZL12). Akt and mTOR activities were also studied in
separate groups of 12 week old animals after a short-term treatment with PI3K inhibitor
wortmannin (W, 100 µg/kg bwt) or vehicle (DMSO). Akt activity (in vitro kinase assay) and
expression of active Akt (P-Akt) were increased in ZDF12 as compared to ZL12 (p