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Insulin receptors in children's erythrocytes. Study on aging cells
O David1, F Cerutti, C Sacchetti
1Department of Pediatrics, University of Turin, Italy.
Insights
Red blood cell aging affects insulin receptor binding. Creatine levels, a marker of red blood cell age, correlate with insulin binding and pyruvate kinase activity, indicating its utility in receptor studies.
Area of Science:
- Endocrinology
- Hematology
- Metabolic Research
Background:
- Insulin resistance is a growing concern, and understanding its mechanisms at a cellular level is crucial.
- Erythrocytes (red blood cells) offer a unique model for studying cellular aging and metabolic changes due to their lack of nucleus and organelles.
- The aging process of red blood cells may influence various cellular functions, including receptor binding.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of red blood cell aging on insulin receptor binding.
- To explore the correlation between insulin receptor binding, pyruvate kinase (PK) activity, and creatine levels in erythrocytes.
- To determine the most reliable marker for red blood cell age in the context of insulin receptor studies.
Main Methods:
- Insulin receptor binding assays using 125I-insulin were performed on erythrocytes from children with high reticulocyte counts and healthy controls.
- Pyruvate kinase (PK) activity and creatine levels were measured in whole erythrocytes and in four distinct red blood cell age fractions.
- Statistical analysis was used to assess correlations between measured parameters.
Main Results:
- A significant positive correlation was observed between the amount of 125I-insulin bound and both PK activity and creatine levels.
- In vitro studies using fractionated red blood cells demonstrated that PK activity decreased more rapidly with age than insulin binding.
- Creatine levels proved to be a more sensitive indicator of red blood cell age compared to PK activity for insulin receptor studies.
Conclusions:
- Red blood cell aging significantly influences insulin receptor binding capacity.
- Creatine content serves as a reliable biomarker for assessing red blood cell age in studies investigating insulin receptor dynamics.
- These findings contribute to a better understanding of cellular aging's role in metabolic processes and insulin signaling.
Abstract:
Aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of the red cell aging process on insulin receptor binding. In erythrocytes from 8 children with high reticulocyte count and 9 healthy age-matched subjects we studied insulin receptor binding in correlation with pyruvate kinase (PK) activity and creatine levels. Moreover maximum 125I-insulin bound % and PK activity were tested in four red cell fractions of different age. Our data show a significant correlation between 125I-insulin bound and either PK activity or creatine levels. In vitro experiments on red cell fractions of different age (as tested by creatine levels) evidence a lower decay of PK activity than insulin bound (p less than 0.05). Our results indicate that creatine content is the best marker of red cell age for insulin receptor studies.