Short-term Regulation of Insulin Receptor Affinity in Man

We have studied the short term regulation of insulin receptors by serially measuring insulin binding to erythrocytes during 5 h of infusions of glucose and insulin. Two infusion protocols were employed: (1) Hyperinsulinemic study. Subjects were infused with insulin (80 mU/min) to induce sustained hyperinsulinemia, while euglycemia was approximated by infusion of glucose (8 mg/kg/min). (2) Hyperglycemic study. Subjects were infused with glucose (7 mg/kg/min) and a small amount of insulin (10 mU/min), while endogenous insulin secretion was inhibited with epinephrine and propranolol. Insulin binding to erythrocyte insulin receptors was measured serially during both of these infusion protocols for 5 h. The results demonstrated no change in insulin binding during the first 3 h of either infusion. However, by 5 h of either infusion, a striking 36% decrease in insulin binding, from 6.3 ± 0.5% to 4.0 ± 0.6%, was observed. Scatchard analysis and average affinity analysis of the binding data demonstrated that this decrease in insulin binding was entirely caused by a decrease in receptor affinity. Insulin binding to circulating monocytes was also measured, and comparable effects were observed. When cells were removed from the in vivo environment at 3 h and were incubated in vitro for a subsequent 2 h, decreased insulin binding developed during the incubation. Thus, this short term regulation of insulin receptor affinity occurred in vivo or in vitro, and cells that were programmed during the first 3 h of the infusion study could develop a decrease in insulin receptor affinity in vitro in the absence of plasma factors.