Luminal and basolateral uptake of insulin in isolated, perfused, proximal tubules

The present study was performed to quantitate and compare the luminal and the peritubular uptake of 125I-labeled insulin in isolated, perfused, proximal tubules from rabbit kidneys. 125I-insulin was added in physiological concentrations of 3.0-7.0 ng/ml or 59.0-89.5 ng/ml (high insulin concentrations) to either the perfusate or the bath fluid for 30 min. The luminal uptake in 30 min averaged 0.76 pg/mm at physiological concentrations and 18.0 pg/mm at high insulin concentrations. About 15-41% of the absorbed insulin was digested and less than 5% was transported from the lumen to the peritubular space as intact insulin. The peritubular binding/uptake of 125I-insulin at physiological and high concentrations in the bath was 0.136 and 0.318 pg, respectively. Addition of excess unlabeled insulin (10(-5) M) to the bath produced significant inhibition of binding (53.7%) at 7.0 ng/ml, but no inhibition at 89.5 ng/ml labeled insulin in the bath. This indicates that insulin is bound/absorbed at the basolateral membranes both by a saturable specific mechanism and a nonspecific, nonsaturable mechanism. The basolateral absorption constituted 15.2 and 1.8% of the total tubular extraction of insulin at physiological and high insulin concentrations, respectively. Electron microscope autoradiography showed that, after luminal as well as basolateral endocytosis, insulin was exclusively accumulated in endocytic vacuoles and lysosomes.