In vitro activity: Canagliflozin is a novel C-glucoside with thiophene ring. Canagliflozin inhibits Na+-dependent 14C-AMG uptake in a concentration-dependent fashion. Canagliflozin inhibits 14C-AMG uptake in CHO-hSGLT1 and mSGLT1 cells with IC50 of 0.7 μM and>1 μM, respectively. Canagliflozin inhibits the facilitative (non-Na+-linked) GLUT-mediated 2H-2-DG uptake in L6 myoblasts by less than 50%. In sham-injected oocytes, Canagliflozin (10 μM) or phlorizin (3 mM) alone in the presence of 50 μM DNJ does not affect currents. In SGLT3-injected oocytes, DMSO and Canagliflozin 10 μM inhibits DNJ-induced currents by 15.6% and 23.4%, respectively.

Kinase Assay: Canagliflozin is a highly potent and selective SGLT2 inhibitor for hSGLT2 with IC50 of 2.2 nM, and exhibits 413-fold selectivity over hSGLT1.

Cell Assay: Cells from the rat skeletal muscle cell line, L6, is used to test the effect of Canagliflozin on glucose transporter 1 (GLUT1) activity. Cells are maintained in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium containing 5.6 mM glucose supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum, are seeded in 24-well plates at a density of 3 × 105 cells/well and cultured for 24 hours in an atmosphere of 5% CO2 at 37 °C. Cells are rinsed twice with Kreb's ringer phosphate HEPES buffer (pH 7.4, 150 mM NaCl, 5 mM KCl, 1.25 mM MgSO4, 1.25 mM CaCl2, 2.9 mM Na2HPO4, 10 mM HEPES) and are pre-incubated with the solutions of Canagliflozin (250 μL, 10 μM) for 5 minutes at room temperature. The transport reaction is initiated by adding 50 μL of 4.5 mM 2-DG (a substrate for GLUTs)/3H-2-DG (0.625 μCi) followed by incubation for 15 minutes at room temperature. The 2-DG uptake is halted by aspiration of the incubation mixture. Cells are immediately washed 3 times with ice-cold PBS. Samples are extracted with 0.3 N NaOH, and radioactivity is determined by liquid scintillation.