Recent studies suggest that high glucose concentrations impair insulin receptor phosphorylation and kinase activation in certain cell models. To examine whether such an effect of glucose can also be demonstrated in vivo, insulin receptor kinase activation was studied in erythrocytes from 11 patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes (NIDDM), before and after reduction of hyperglycemia (from 14.6+/-1.6 to 6.6+/-0.5 mmol/l fasting plasma glucose within 8.6+/-0.6 days). For the measurement of receptor kinase activation, cells were incubated with insulin (0-400 nmol/l), solubilized and insulin receptors immobilized to microwells coated with anti-insulin receptor antibody. Kinase activity towards insulin receptor substrate-1 and insulin binding were then measured in these wells. Kinase activities (expressed as amol phosphate transferred per min and per fmol insulin binding activity) were similar before (2.4+/-0.4 and 32.2+/-2.0 amol/min per fmol with 0 and 400 nmol/l insulin, respectively) and after improvement of metabolic control (2.4+/-0.5 and 32.0+/-2.3 amol/min per fmol with 0 and 400 nmol/l insulin, respectively). Moreover, activities were also similar in 22 hyperglycemic patients with NIDDM (2.1+/-0.3 and 35.1+/-1.4 amol/min per fmol with 0 and 400 nmol/l insulin, respectively) compared with those in 21 non-diabetic control individuals (2.1+/-0.3 and 34.2+/-1.2 amol/min per fmol with 0 and 400 nmol/l insulin, respectively). We conclude that insulin activation of erythrocyte insulin receptor kinase is not impaired in NIDDM and is not influenced by hyperglycemia.

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