The Metabolism of Proinsulin and Insulin by the Liver

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Abstract

The removal of bovine proinsulin by the isolated perfused rat liver has been studied and the results compared with the removal of insulin. At high concentrations of insulin (> 180 ng/ml) the removal process was saturated and the t½ varied between 35 and 56 min. With low initial insulin levels the disappearance followed first-order kinetics, the mean regression coefficient being — 0.022, t½ 13.8 min, and the hepatic extraction 4.0 ml/min. The results with proinsulin were in striking contrast to these findings. At both high and low concentrations the hepatic removal of proinsulin was considerably slower, averaging 10-15 times less than that of insulin. Specific immunoassay techniques and gel filtration of samples taken from perfusions to which both labeled and unlabeled proinsulin had been added did not show conversion to either insulin or the C-peptide.

Authors

A. H. Rubenstein, L. A. Pottenger, M. Mako, G. S. Getz, D. F. Steiner