Genes in Hepatocytes: The Glut-1 Transporter

The purpose of this study was to elucidate the mechanisms responsible for the restricted position-dependent expression of the Glut-1 glucose transporter in the plasma membrane to a small population of parenchymal cells in rat liver. On the basis of earlier studies in which the erythroid/brain (Glut-1) glucose transporter isoform was detected by immunofluorescence only in the last two hepatocytes surrounding the terminal hepatic venule,1 investigators in Jorge Gumucio’s laboratory at the University of Michigan sought to determine the molecular basis for the observation. To study the expression of this transporter in individual hepatocyte populations (periportal vs perivenous), the authors used the digitonin/collagenase cell isolation method. Their conclusions rest on two assumptions: (1) the modified digitonin/collagenase method of hepatocyte isolation use