Fig. 15

Different capabilities of fasted and fed hepatocytes to cope with transient hyperglycemic conditions. The figure depicts glucose exchange flux (b) and glycogen content (c) of fasted (blue), normal (green), and fed (red) hepatocytes in response to the 24-h glucose profile of fasted rats (a). The dotted lines refer to a situation where a transient glucose bolus (between 12 and 16 h) was added, driving the plasma glucose to a peak value of 10 mM. While the fasted hepatocyte has the highest glucose release rates in the unperturbed case it is clearly less efficient than the normal and fed hepatocyte to take up large amounts of glucose under sudden hyperglycemic conditions