The effect of food intake on insulin receptor in man

Beta-endorphin receptors on cultured and freshly isolated lymphocytes from normal subjects

[125I]-[D-Ala2]-beta EP*) binding to Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) transformed B lymphocytes or to freshly isolated lymphocytes was characterized. The binding was time-, temperature- and pH-dependent; furthermore, it was reversible and cell concentration dependent. Maximum binding appeared at 15C in Tris buffer (pH 7.6) containing both BSA 0.5% and Bacitracin 0.1 mg/ml. beta EP inhibited BEP* binding to transformed lymphocytes and to freshly isolated lymphocytes by 50% at approximately 4 x 10(-8) M and 8 x 10(-9) M, respectively. Peptides representing amino-acid sequences 1-5, 1-16 and 1-17 of beta EP did not inhibit beta EP binding, neither did the opiates compounds Naloxone, Morphine, Bremazocine and Ethylketocyclazocine. On the contrary, beta EPd (6-31) inhibited beta EP* binding as effectively as beta EP, thus indicating that beta EP* binding to lymphocytes does not involve the N-terminal region of beta EP. 2 x 10(7)/ml freshly isolated lymphocytes bound 1.53 +/- 75%, whereas 2 x 10(6)/ml transformed lymphocytes bound 1.64 +/- 0.75% (mean +/- SD) beta EP* at tracer concentration. EBV transformed lymphocytes and freshly isolated lymphocytes may be useful to study beta EP receptors in humans.

Is regulation of body weight elucidated

A new perspective on mechanisms involved in the regulation of a constant fat body mass and its relation to body energy balance is presented on the basis of a series of experiments. A study of the neuroendocrine conditions underlying the daily weight gain-weight loss cycle in rat and man and experimentally induced over and underweight, leads to the notion that lipogenesis and lipolysis above and below a range of physiological fluctuations of body fat develop a counter-regulatory tendency to correcting lipolysis and lipogenesis respectively. This development is attributed to a chronic central action of plasma insulin concentration on hypothalamic insulin receptors. This liporegulatory system which controls and regulates the filling and emptying of fat stores modulates the feeding system which controls and regulates the filling of a gastrointestinal store by eating and its emptying by metabolic food utilization.

Quality control of insulin radioreceptor assay for human erythrocytes. Effect of ageing of mono-125I-Tyr-A14-insulin preparation

The quality control of insulin radioreceptor assay for human erythrocytes is based on the storage of erythrocyte preparations in Hepes buffer of pH 8.0, containing 10 g/l of albumin and 20 mmol/l of glucose. The change of erythrocytes into spherocytes and crenated cells reduces the apparent number of insulin receptors in a relatively constant way by less than 8% a week after 10 days of storage. At the same time the dissociation constants of the insulin-receptor complex increase rapidly. Thus the use of a preparation must be limited to controlling the determination of the insulin binding sites of erythrocytes, and not to the measurement of the affinities of the receptors. When mono-125I-Tyr-A14-insulin gets old, a slow decrease in the insulin binding sites can be measured, but the dissociation constants of the insulin receptor complex are not affected.

Decreased insulin receptors but normal glucose metabolism in Duchenne muscular dystrophy

Compared to matched controls, 17 patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy showed decreased insulin binding to monocytes due to decreased receptor concentration. These patients showed no signs of altered glucose metabolism and retrospective analysis of the clinical records of a further 56 such patients revealed no modification in carbohydrate metabolism. These data suggest that reduced insulin receptor number does not produce overt modifications of glucose metabolism in Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Carbohydrate intake affects insulin binding to human erythrocytes in normal weight subjects but not in subjects with family obesity

The effects of different carbohydrate intakes on insulin binding to human erythrocytes were studied in thirty nine obese and twelve normal weight subjects belonging to twelve families with a strong penetrance of obesity("family experiment"), and in nine normal weight subjects with no family or personal history of obesity or diabetes ("diet experiment"). In the "family experiment," the mean insulin binding in obese subjects was significantly lower than in control normal weight siblings and parents. This difference cannot be related to an increase in carbohydrate or caloric intakes, since there was no difference in daily food intake between the obese and the control subjects. In the "diet experiment," the volunteers were studied four times: twice with their spontaneous diet, one with a normocaloric carbohydrate rich diet and once with a normocaloric fat rich diet. Both the carbohydrate and fat rich diets resulted in a significant lowering of binding when compared to the period of spontaneous diet. In the two experiments, the decrease in binding is due to a decrease in the number of receptors per erythrocyte. The possibility of a common underlying mechanism is discussed.

Abnormal regulation of monocyte insulin-binding affinity after glucose ingestion in patients with myotonic dystrophy

Insulin insensitivity of uncertain etiology often exists in myotonic muscular dystrophy, a multitissue, autosomal dominant disorder hypothesized to be a hereditary membrane disease. The present studies show that monocytes from patients with myotonic dystrophy fail to demonstrate the normally observed qualitative increase in insulin-binding affinity after oral glucose loading. Monocytes from 10 normal volunteers developed a significantly increased insulin-binding affinity by 2 hr after glucose ingestion (mean +/- SEM, 11.7 +/- 2.7 ng/ml compared to basal 50% insulin displacement value of 23.3 +/- 2.2 ng/ml, P less than 0.005). This increase was maintained at 5 hr (13.5 +/- 2.7 ng/ml, P less than 0.05). In contrast, no significant increase in monocyte insulin-binding affinity occurred in cells from nine myotonic dystrophy patients at 2 and 5 hr after glucose loading (50% insulin displacement values: basal, 14.2 +/- 2.8 ng/ml; 2 hr, 16.7 +/- 1.7 ng/ml; 5 hr, 10.8 +/- 2.1 ng/ml). These alterations document the presence of abnormalities in the insulin receptor or receptor-associated processes that modulate insulin binding. A hereditary plasma membrane defect may underlie these findings. This abnormality may have an etiologic role in the decreased insulin sensitivity that frequently afflicts patients with myotonic dystrophy.

Insulin antibodies prevent insulin-receptor interactions

The study was carried out to investigate whether insulin bound to antibody is able to bind the insulin receptor of target tissues. Three specific rabbit anti-insulin sera as well as sera from eight diabetic patients with insulin antibodies were incubated, free of insulin, with labelled insulin for 48 h at 4 degrees C; following incubation labelled insulin was employed in binding experiments on monocytes, erythrocytes and placenta membranes. Using rabbit sera, receptor binding was absent when insulin was totally combined with antibody, and appeared in increasing amounts as the percentage of free insulin increased to reach a maximum when no insulin was combined with antibody. The same experiment using sera from diabetic patients showed a close negative relationship (r = 0.95) between the amount of insulin bound to the antibody and the amount bound to receptors. The influence of the insulin-antibody complex on the insulin receptor interaction was evaluated by exposing the insulin-antibody complex to the receptor in pH, temperature and competition-inhibition curve experiments. The complex had no effect on receptor affinity or on the pH and temperature relationship influence with insulin-receptor interaction. The findings suggest that insulin resistance in the presence of insulin antibodies is due only to an alteration occurring before the interaction of insulin with its receptor, and demonstrate that the insulin-antibody complex does not influence the insulin receptor interaction.

Response of insulin receptors to oral glucose in normal subjects

Insulin binding to circulating monocytes was studied in ten male volunteers before and 1, 2, and 5 hours after the oral intake of 100 g of glucose. Results indicate an increase in the specific cell binding fraction with a change in receptor affinity 5 hours after glucose. Since the same changes appear 3 hours after food intake they are probably not directly induced by insulinemia.