Pyridoxine binding to normal and diabetic liver plasma membrane

Pyridoxine binding to liver plasma membrane isolated from livers of normal and streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats was investigated. The effect of increasing concentration of pyridoxine on its binding to the membranes revealed a concentration-dependent and saturable process with a significant decrease in the high affinity receptor sites of the diabetic membrane. Moreover, the incubation of the membranes with procaine, colchicine and vincristine increased significantly pyridoxine binding to normal and diabetic membrane. Treatment of the normal and diabetic membranes with insulin did not affect pyridoxine binding. It could be suggested that streptozotocin-induced diabetes caused an alteration in the pyridoxine binding capacity of the liver plasma membrane which might be due to certain structural changes in the membrane.