BeWo cells were preincubated with 80 nM of human NE (SE563, Elastin products company) in glucose-free KrebsRinger HEPES buffer (KRH) [25 mM Hepes-NaOH (pH 7.4), 120 mM NaCl, 5 mM KCl, 1.3 mM CaCl2, 1.3 mM KH2PO4] for 3 h. Then, cells were rinsed with KRH and stimulated in the same buffer containing 100 nM of insulin (Actrapid HM) for 1 h. Following stimulation, the cells were washed and in order to measure the glucose uptake, incubated in KRH buffer supplemented with 1 μCi/ml of 2-[1,2-3H(N)]-deoxy-d-glucose (Perkin Elmer) for 10 min. Resulting cell lysate was mixed with scintillation fluid (Filter-count, Perkin Elmer), and radioactivity was measured in a liquid scintillation analyzer (Packard 1900 TR). Glucose uptake was expressed in triplicate, and the mean SD of the data was calculated.