Aim: The aim was to detecy the amount and the activity of GLUT4 in diabetic muscle tissue.

Meterial and Methods: Thirty Wistar-Albino rats were used in this study, the rats were divided into diabetic (n = 20) and control groups (n = 10). According to the daily blood glucose level, daily regular insulin was injected subcutaneously. Muscle samples were taken from the hind legs of the rats. After ten weeks, free and non-free proteins were obtained by homogenizing these samples, Electrophoresis was applied to solutions, which were formed from these proteins. The protein bands, which were obtained by electrophoresis, were exposed to immunoblotting method and the GLUT 4 band was imaged.

Results: In diabetic rats, it was demonstrated that the GLUT 4 protein, which was obtained from the plasma membrane fraction, had a less density than the control group. When the amount of intracellular microsomal membrane GLUT 4 protein was evaluated, a slight decrease was observed in the density of GLUT 4 protein in diabetic rats than the controls. Generally, the amounts of GLUT 4 in the diabetic and control groups were similar.

Conclusion: The insulin insufficiency and hyperglycemia decrease the translocation of GLUT 4 from microsomal membranes to the plasma membrane in the muscle tissue of diabetic rats.