Diabetes, Vol 39, Issue 6 683-689, Copyright © 1990 by American Diabetes Association
Partial characterization of mechanism of insulin accumulation in H35 hepatoma cell nuclei
RM Smith and L Jarett
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia 19104.
The mechanism controlling insulin accumulation in nuclei of H35 hepatoma
cells was investigated by incubating intact cells with 125I-labeled insulin
in the presence or absence of agents that perturb different intracellular
sites involved in the processing of ligand-receptor complexes. Purified
nuclei were isolated, and nuclear-associated 125I-insulin was determined.
Insulin accumulation in the nuclei was time and temperature dependent.
Nuclear accumulation was linear and insulin-concentration dependent between
5 and 50 ng insulin/ml. However, pharmacological concentrations of insulin
increased the amount of insulin translocated to the nucleus to a far
greater extent than it increased total cell-associated insulin.
Chloroquine, an acidotrophic agent, increased total cell-associated and
intracellular insulin but had no effect on nuclear accumulation. The
monovalent ionophores monensin and nigericin inhibited nuclear accumulation
of insulin at low concentrations (0.5-5.0 microM) without affecting total
insulin binding or intracellular accumulation. At 10 or 25 microM, monensin
and nigericin also acted as acidotrophic agents and increased total insulin
binding and intracellular accumulation but inhibited nuclear accumulation
by a maximum of 50%. Low concentrations of monensin and nigericin were
additive; maximal concentrations were not. A 23187 and valinomycin did not
affect insulin binding or intracellular and nuclear accumulation of
insulin. Neither depletion of ATP by sodium azide, 2,4-dinitrophenol,
sodium cyanide, or oligomycin nor disruption of cytoskeletal elements by
cytochalasin D or colchicine had any effect on nuclear accumulation of
insulin.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)