Studies on the presence of insulin in rat brain

High concentrations of insulin have been detected in extrapancreatic tissues and plasma from both rats and humans, which was identical to authentic insulin by radioimmunoassay. However, insulin levels in whole rat brain extracts obtained using high recovery acid/ethanol extraction procedures were undetectable. Insulin concentrations remained undetectable in extracts of brain from hyperinsulinemic rats. In concentrated extracts from ten rat brains, insulin levels were still lower than the detection limit (10 pg/brain) of three sensitive radioimmunoassays. It is concluded that insulin-like material detected previously in rat brain extracts is unlikely to be authentic insulin.