The glucose transporters of skeletal muscle

Glucose transport into skeletal muscle occurs through the GLUT1 and GLUT4 glucose transporters. Muscle cells in culture also express the GLUT3 fetal muscle/neuronal type transporter. In skeletal muscle, the GLUT1 transporter is restricted to the cell surface, while the more abundant GLUT4 transporter is largely sequestered intracellularly from where it is rapidly translocated to the cell surface in response to insulin, exercise or hypoxia. The …