INSULIN RESISTANCE OF SKELETAL-MUSCLE DURING PREGNANCY IS NOT A CONSEQUENCE OF INTRINSIC MODIFICATIONS OF INSULIN-RECEPTOR BINDING OR KINASE-ACTIVITIES

Insulin action in skeletal muscle is markedly depressed at late pregnancy. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether insulin resistance of skeletal muscle during pregnancy is associated to intrinsic alterations in the biological activities of insulin receptor. To that end, insulin receptors from mixed, red and white skeletal muscle from control and 19-20 days pregnant rats were partially purified and insulin binding and tyrosine kinase activities were evaluated. Muscle insulin receptors from diabetic rats were also studied provided that changes in receptor number and tyrosine kinase activities had been clearly substantiated. Total high affinity insulin binding sites expressed either per gram of tissue or per milligram of protein were similar in muscles from control and pregnant rats, in contrast to diabetic rats in which an increased high affinity receptor number was observed. No differences in affinity were detected for high affinity binding sites in any of the groups investigated. The integrity of the partially purified insulin receptors from control and pregnant groups was identical as determined by affinity cross-linking of [125I-TyrB26]insulin to the receptor and by β-subunit phosphorylation. Autophosphorylation of the β-subunit and the pattern of phosphopeptides obtained after digestion of phosphorylated β-subunit with trypsin, elastase, and staphylococcal V8 protease were indistinguishable in control and pregnant groups. Tyrosine receptor kinase was also similar in receptor preparations from control and pregnant muscle. This is in contrast to diabetes in which a defective tyrosine kinase was confirmed. In order to detect possible differences due to the fiber type, further sets of experiments were performed in receptor preparations from red and white muscle. In keeping with previous data, tyrosine kinase activity of the insulin receptor was 2.5-fold greater in red muscle than white muscle; however, under these conditions, receptor kinase activity was unmodified in preparations from pregnant rats in red and white muscle fibers.Recent evidence has revealed the existence of an insulin binding inhibitor in muscle extracts. We detected the presence of such an inhibitor in the flow-through fraction after WGA chromatography. This inhibitory activity was found to be greater in muscle extracts obtained from pregnant rats as compared to fractions from control rats.We conclude that insulin resistance of skeletal muscle at late pregnancy is not explained by intrinsic modifications of insulin receptor binding or kinase activities. Whether the greater inhibitory binding activity detected in muscle from pregnant rats contributes to any extent to insulin resistance deserves further study. © 1990 by The Endocrine Society.