The cover picture shows a confocal fluorescent light micrograph of a section through skeletal muscle, the major glucose-disposing tissue of the body. In insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes, impaired insulin action leads to decreased PI3K-Akt signalling, resulting in reduced glucose disposal by skeletal muscle. In the present issue of Diabetologia (51: 512-521), Cozzone et al. study the activity and phosphorylation of the three Akt isoforms in primary myotubes derived from control subjects and type 2 diabetic patients. Catalytic activity of each isoform is impaired in insulin-stimulated myotubes from type 2 diabetic patients but deregulation of Akt activatory phosphorylations is isoform-specific, indicating that several molecular mechanisms contribute to altered muscle Akt activation in type 2 diabetes. Download the high resolution cover image
Cover credit: THOMAS DEERINCK, NCMIR/SCIENCE PHOTOLIBRARY