Retroendocytosis of insulin in rat adipocytes

A variety of ligands internalized by receptor-mediated endocytosis follow a short circuit pathway that does not lead to degradation but results in rapid exocytosis of intact ligand, a process termed retroendocytosis. We studied the time course of [125I]iodoinsulin processing and retroendocytosis after internalization in isolated rat adipocytes. After steady state binding and internalization, surface receptor-bound insulin was removed by exposing cells to a low pH at low temperatures. The cells containing internalized [125I]iodoinsulin were reincubated in fresh medium; subsequently, the radioactivity remaining within the cells and released into the medium were analyzed at various times by trichloroacetic acid (TCA) precipitation, Sephadex G-50 gel filtration, and reverse phase HPLC. Cell-associated radioactivity progressively decreased after reincubation in 37 C buffer, with 50% released in 9 min and 85% by 45 min. In the media, TCA-precipitable material appeared quickly, with a t1/2 of 2 min, and plateaued by 10 min. TCA-soluble material was released continually throughout the 45-min period. The release of both TCA-precipitable and TCA-soluble material was temperature and energy dependent. Sephadex G-50 chromatography demonstrated the loss of insulin from the intracellular pool and its appearance in the medium with a time course similar to that of TCA-precipitable material. Reverse phase HPLC demonstrated that the intracellular and medium radioactivity eluting in peak II (insulin peak) on Sephadex G-50 was composed of both intact insulin and intermediates. In conclusion, these studies demonstrated that after the internalization of insulin, rat adipocytes release not only small mol wt degradation products of insulin, but also insulin intermediates and intact insulin. The rate of retroendocytosis reported here is almost identical to the rate of insulin receptor recycling in rat adipocytes. Therefore, retroendocytosis may serve as an excellent in vitro reflection of the extent and rate of insulin receptor recycling.