The effects of insulin and tunicamycin on insulin receptors of cultured fibroblasts

The effect of down-regulation on the intracellular pool of insulin receptors and the role of glycosylation in recovery from down-regulation have been studied in fibroblastic cultures from the skin of non-diabetic mice. In control cultures, 55% of the total specific [¹²⁵I]insulin-binding activity was in the intracellular compartment. Insulin caused a time- and concentration-dependent decrease in the number of cell surface insulin receptors, with no significant change in total insulin receptors. This decrease in surface receptors was accompanied by an increase in the specific binding of [¹²⁵I]insulin in the intracellular compartment. Removal of insulin from down-regulated cells resulted in a time-dependent increase in the binding of [¹²⁵I]insulin to surface receptors, reaching 90% of that in controls by 12 h. The recovery of surface insulin receptors after removal of insulin was blocked by incubation of cultures with tunicamycin, but not by cycloheximide. These results indicate that down-regulation of surface insulin receptors by insulin is associated with translocation of receptors into the intracellular pool and suggest that protein glycosylation is important in insulin receptor recycling and externalization.     

Cross-linking of insulin receptors to MHC antigens in human B lymphocytes: evidence for selective molecular interactions

Molecular interactions between insulin receptors and MHC antigens were investigated in human B cells. Two B lymphoblastoid cell lines, IM-9 and 526, chosen for their high insulin binding capacity, were found to express 15,000 and 25,000 insulin receptors per cell, respectively. Insulin receptors were labeled with a 125I-photoreactive insulin analogue, and all other surface proteins by lactoperoxidase-catalyzed radioiodination. Neighbor proteins were cross-linked with a cleavable homobifunctional reagent dithio-bis-(succinimidyl propionate) (DSP) and solubilized before immunoprecipitation by anti-HLA monoclonal antibodies. Gel analysis of the precipitated proteins showed that 90% of insulin receptors precipitable by anti-insulin receptor antibodies were precipitated by anti-class I antibodies (anti-heavy chain and anti-beta 2-microglobulin) after cross-linking with 2 mM DSP. In neither IM-9- nor 526 cells could HLA antigens be precipitated by anti-insulin receptor antibodies, suggesting that the concentration of class I antigens largely exceeds the concentration of insulin receptors at the cell surface. In 526 lymphocytes, class I MHC antigens were also found to adjoin class II antigens, since both molecules could be coprecipitated with anti-HLA A, B, C and with anti-HLA-DR antibodies after chemical cross-linking. Down-regulation of insulin receptors by chronic exposure of IM-9 cells to insulin did not affect the amount of MHC molecules present on the cell surface, and conversely, class I MHC molecules were internalized in 526 cells irrespective of the presence of insulin. These results thus show that insulin receptors and MHC antigens form multimolecular complexes in the plasma membrane of cultured human B cells. These interactions, which do not appear to influence the regulation of these proteins on the cell surface, may be involved in the mechanism of hormone signaling.     

Kinetics of insulin receptor internalization and recycling in adipocytes. Shunting of receptors to a degradative pathway by inhibitors of recycling

The kinetics of receptor internalization and recycling was directly determined in adipocytes by measuring 125I-insulin binding to total, intracellular, and cell-surface insulin receptors. In the absence of insulin 90% of all receptors were on the cell-surface and 10% were intracellular. Insulin (100 ng/ml) rapidly altered this distribution by translocating surface receptors to the cell-interior through a temperature and energy dependent process. Surface-derived receptors were seen within cells as early as 30 s and accumulated intracellularly at the rate of approximately 20,000/min (t 1/2 = 2.7 min). After 6 min the size of the intracellular receptor pool plateaued (for up to 2 h), with 30% of surface receptors residing within the cell. This plateau was due to the attainment of an equilibrium between receptor uptake and recycling, since removal of insulin (to stop receptor uptake) was followed by both a rapid depletion of intracellular receptors and a a concomitant and stoichiometric reappearance of receptors on the cell-surface. Receptors were efficiently recycled, with little or no net loss observed even after 4 h of insulin treatment; however, recycling could be partially inhibited (approximately 10%) by several agents (e.g. chloroquine and Tris). Tris treatment of adipocytes in the presence of insulin led to 50% loss of surface and total receptors at 2 and 4 h, respectively. Since chloroquine prevented the decrease in total receptors, but not the loss of surface receptors, it appears that Tris impairs recycling by diverting a portion of incoming receptors to a chloroquine-inhibitable degradative site. From these results we conclude that: 1) insulin triggers endocytotic uptake of insulin-receptor complexes; 2) internalized receptors are then rapidly reinserted into the plasma membrane, and the receptors can traverse this recycling pathway within 6 min; 3) prolonged recycling does not normally result in measurable receptor loss, but when receptors are prevented from recycling, they become trapped intracellularly and are shunted to a chloroquine-sensitive degradative pathway; and 4) chloroquine and Tris are only partially effective inhibitors of receptor recycling.     

Insulin receptor recycling in vascular endothelial cells. Regulation by insulin and phorbol ester

Endothelial cell insulin receptors mediate the transcytosis of insulin from luminal to abluminal cell surface. We have investigated the kinetics of insulin receptor translocation by immunoprecipitation of radiolabeled receptors at various times before and after trypsin treatment of intact endothelial cells. Insulin receptors were constitutively internalized with t1/2 = 18 +/- 2 min and were recycled to the cell surface. Insulin stimulated receptor internalization and externalization rates 2.6- and 2.4-fold, respectively. Changes in cell-surface binding of 125I-insulin were consistent with the receptor translocation rates observed in surface-labeling experiments. Phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) treatment increased the rate of insulin-stimulated receptor externalization 1.7-fold. PMA treatment increased the constitutive externalization rate 3.5-fold without affecting the constitutive internalization rate, suggesting that recycling might occur via a mobilization of receptors from intracellular sites in a manner independent of internalization rate. Analysis of the intracellular distribution of receptors by 125I-insulin binding and immunogold electron microscopy revealed that less than one-third of the total insulin receptor pool resided on the cell surface. In summary, endothelial cell insulin receptors are constitutively recycled, and internalization and externalization rates are increased by receptor occupancy and PMA treatment.     

Reutilization of insulin receptor and hormonal response in cultured foetal hepatocytes: the effects of chloroquine and vinblastine

The effects of chloroquine and vinblastine (10-100 microM) on insulin degradation and biological action were studied in cultured foetal rat hepatocytes. Insulin degradation, as measured by the release of trichloroacetic acid-soluble radioactivity from 125I-insulin into the medium, was strictly cell-associated, saturable with respect to insulin concentrations and linearly related to the amount of cell-associated hormone. The maximal rate of insulin degradation was 4,700 molecules/min per cell, and its KM about 5 nM. Thus, insulin receptors (30,000 sites/cell; half-life close to 13 hr) must be reutilized 450-fold before being degraded with an average time of reutilization inferior to 10 min. In the presence of 70 microM chloroquine or 100 microM vinblastine, insulin degradation was inhibited by 80% and the amount of cell-associated hormone enhanced 2-3-fold. Nearly total inhibition of insulin-stimulated glycogenesis was obtained with 70 microM chloroquine and 45 microM vinblastine. When hepatocytes were preincubated with chloroquine or vinblastine, insulin binding remained high for up to 4 hr, then progressively decreased thereafter. The addition of 10 nM native insulin during preincubation with the drugs resulted in an earlier and more pronounced decrease in insulin binding, whereas native insulin alone did not induce any change. Both the inhibition of insulin degradation and onset of receptor down-regulation suggest a drug-induced impairment in the receptor reutilization. This defect is correlated to a loss of the glycogenic effect of insulin in cultured foetal rat hepatocytes.     

The insulin-like effect of sodium vanadate on adipocyte glucose transport is mediated at a post-insulin-receptor level.

Sodium vanadate has several insulin-like effects. To determine whether vanadate acts via the insulin receptor, I investigated the effect of vanadate on glucose transport (2-deoxyglucose uptake) in adipocytes that had been treated to decrease the number of insulin receptors. Trypsin (100 micrograms/ml) caused greater than 95% loss of 125I-insulin binding and rendered glucose transport resistant to both insulin and an anti-insulin-receptor antibody. However, vanadate caused an 8-fold increase in the transport rate [EC50 (concn. giving 50% of maximum effect) 0.2 mM] in both control and trypsin-treated cells, demonstrating that the insulin receptor does not have to be intact for vanadate to stimulate glucose transport. Insulin receptors were depleted by treatment of adipocytes with insulin (100 ng/ml) in the presence of Tris (which blocks receptor recycling). A 2 h treatment caused 60% loss of receptors, and a shift to the right in the dose-response curve for insulin stimulation of glucose transport (EC50 0.3 ng of insulin/ml in controls, 1.2 ng/ml in treated cells). The response to vanadate was again unaffected. Treatment with insulin for 4 h caused a 67% decrease in insulin binding and, in addition to the rightward shift in the insulin dose-response curve, a decrease in basal and maximal transport rates (which cannot be explained by decreased insulin receptor number). The EC50 of vanadate was again equal in control and treated cells, but glucose transport in the presence of a maximally effective concentration of vanadate (1 mM) was decreased. I conclude that the effect of vanadate on glucose transport is independent of the insulin receptor. Induction of a post-receptor defect (which may be a decrease in the total number of cellular glucose transporters) by prolonged exposure to insulin decreases the potency of a maximally effective concentration of vanadate. The findings demonstrate that vanadate stimulates glucose transport by an effect at a level distal to the insulin receptor.     

Shunting of insulin from a retroendocytotic pathway to a degradative pathway by sodium vanadate

Adipocytes route internalized insulin through two major pathways, a degradative pathway and a retroendocytotic pathway. To examine whether sorting of incoming insulin-receptor complexes can be altered, we assessed the effect of vanadate on the intracellular processing of both insulin and insulin receptors. After cells were pretreated with vanadate (1 mM for 30 min at 37 degrees C), 125I-insulin was loaded into the cell interior. When the net efflux of insulin from cells into the medium was then monitored, vanadate was found to slow the efflux of insulin from a t1/2 of 6.2 min (controls) to 11 min. Since efflux reflects both the rapid extrusion of intact insulin and the slower release of degradative products, we proposed that vanadate diverts more insulin into the degradative pathway. Further evidence in support of this idea included the following: 1) when intracellular degradation of insulin was impaired by chloroquine, undegraded insulin accumulated faster within vanadate-treated cells, consistent with greater flux through a degradative pathway; 2) vanadate increased the percentage of degraded insulin released from cells from 61 and 72%; and 3) under steady-state binding conditions, more insulin resided in the cell interior of vanadate-treated cells (44.8% versus 34.5%), and the time required for the intracellular pool to reach equilibrium was prolonged (t1/2 of 5.5 min versus 4.0). Neither insulin internalization nor degradation was impaired by vanadate alone. In related studies Tris was found to inhibit insulin-mediated receptor recycling by only 10%, whereas in the presence of vanadate (plus Tris) almost all incoming insulin receptors were prevented from recycling. Vanadate alone had no effect on the ability of insulin receptors to recycle. Based on these results we conclude that: 1) vanadate shunts incoming insulin from a more rapid retroendocytotic pathway to a slower degradative pathway and diverts insulin receptors from a Tris-insensitive recycling pathway to one that can be completely inhibited by Tris; 2) these effects are selective, in that vanadate impairs neither insulin degradation nor receptor uptake and recycling. Considered together, these findings support the idea that a sorting mechanism exists for the intracellular routing of incoming insulin-receptor complexes.     

Cell surface receptors for insulin and human growth hormone. Effect of microtubule and microfilament modifiers.

The receptors for the polypeptide hormones, insulin and growth hormone, are located on the cell surface. Since the cytoplasmic microtubules and microfilaments are involved in the mobility and distribution of surface receptors for immunoglobulins and lectins, we investigated the role of these structures in the binding of insulin and human growth hormone to their receptors on cultured human lymphocytes (IM-9). Cells preincubated with microfilament modifiers, cytochalasin A, B, and D (10 mug/ml), had decreased binding of insulin (30%) and human growth hormone (60%) under steady state conditions, which was not reversed by removing the cytochalasins from the medium and was due entirely to a reduced number of receptor sites on the cell surfact. The lost receptors were not detected in the medium, suggesting a redistribution within the cell. The cytochalasins failed to alter the affinity of the hormones for their receptors or the negative cooperativity of the insulin receptor. The anti-microtubule agents (vincristine, vinblastine, colchicine) had no effect on the binding of insulin and growth hormone to their receptors. Deuterium oxide, a stabilizer of microtubules and other proteins, decreased the affinity (40%) of insulin for its receptors under steady state conditions and accelerated moderately the spontaneous dissociation of 125I-insulin from its receptors. Since cytochalasin decreases the number of available insulin and human growth hormone receptor sites, cytochalasin-sensitive microfilamentous structures appear to modulate the exposure of cell surface hormone receptors, while microtubules do not seem to be involved.     

Inhibition of insulin receptor binding by dimethyl sulfoxide.

Little is known of the effects of the solvent on hormone-receptor interactions. In the present study the effect of the polar solvent dimethyl sulfoxide on the binding of insulin to its surface receptors on cultured human lymphocytes of the IM-9 line was investigated. At concentrations exceeding 0.1% (v/v), dimethyl sulfoxide produced a dose-related inhibition of 125-I-labeled insulin binding. Insulin binding was totally abolished in 20% dimethyl sulfoxide. This inhibition was immediately present and was totally reversible. Analysis of the data of binding at steady state indicated that the decrease in binding of 125I-labeled insulin was due to a reduced affinity of the insulin receptor without noticeable change in the concentration of receptor sites. Kinetic studies showed that the decreased affinity could largely be accounted for by a decreased association rate constant; effects on dissociation and negative cooperativity of the insulin receptor was affected to a much lesser extent.     

Inhibition of insulin receptor binding by dimethyl sulfoxide

Little is known of the effects of the solvent on hormone-receptor interactions. In the present study the effect of the polar solvent dimethyl sulfoxide on the binding of insulin to its surface receptors on cultured human lymphocytes of the IM-9 line was investigated. At concentrations exceeding 0.1% (v/v), dimethyl sulfoxide produced a dose-related inhibition of ¹²⁵I-labeled insulin binding. Insulin binding was totally abolished in 20% dimethyl sulfoxide. This inhibition was immediately present and was totally reversible. Analysis of the data of binding at steady state indicated that the decrease in binding of ¹²⁵I-labeled insulin was due to a reduced affinity of the insulin receptor without noticeable change in the concentration of receptor sites. Kinetic studies showed that the decreased affinity could largely be accounted for by a decreased association rate constant; effects on dissociation and negative cooperativity of the insulin receptor were affected to a much lesser extent.     

Interferon-alpha down-regulates insulin receptors in lymphoblastoid (Daudi) cells. Relationship to inhibition of cell proliferation

The Daudi line of human lymphoblastoid cells requires insulin and transferrin for growth in serum-free medium and is highly sensitive to the inhibitory effect of human leukocyte interferon (IFN-alpha) on cell proliferation. A variant subline of Daudi cells, which is resistant to the antiproliferative action of IFN-alpha, also has been grown in serum-free medium containing insulin and transferrin. The proliferation of IFN-sensitive and -resistant Daudi cells is dependent on the occupancy of insulin receptors, with optimal cell proliferation observed at high receptor occupancy (nearly 100%). No evidence was found for receptors for insulin-like growth factor I on Daudi cells. IFN treatment of IFN-sensitive cells decreased the capacity of the cells to bind 125I-insulin. The altered binding capacity was due to diminished specific, lower affinity insulin binding, as detected at high 125I-insulin concentrations. Higher affinity insulin binding was not altered by IFN. Insulin binding was also reduced in detergent-solubilized extracts from IFN-treated sensitive Daudi cells and the magnitude of the effect was comparable to that observed in intact cells. This indicates that the total number of insulin binding sites (surface + internal) is decreased in IFN-treated sensitive cells. Insulin binding to IFN-sensitive cells decreased linearly with time between 6 and 48 h from the addition of IFN. The effect on lower affinity insulin binding developed more rapidly than the inhibitory effect of IFN on cell proliferation. The insulin-binding capacity of Daudi cells resistant to the antiproliferative effect of IFN was unaffected by IFN, despite the fact that these cells contain as many cell surface IFN receptors as sensitive cells. These observations raise the possibility that lower affinity insulin binding is important in the growth-promoting actions of insulin.     

The upregulating effect of insulin and vanadate on cell surface insulin receptors in rat adipocytes is modulated by glucose and energy availability.

The aim of this study was to further characterize the rapid effects of insulin and the tyrosine phosphatase inhibitor vanadate to amplify cell surface insulin binding capacity in isolated rat adipocytes. The effect of 20 min insulin treatment (1000 microU/ml) was 2- to 3-fold (p < 0.01) when cells were treated in medium containing 5.6 mM D-glucose, but it was totally absent in glucose-free medium. Other carbon energy sources, such as fructose and pyruvate, could only partly substitute for D-glucose, with an approximately 1.5-fold insulin effect. Moreover, inhibiting transmembrane glucose transport with cytochalasin B completely blocked the effect of insulin to enhance cell surface binding. The effect of vanadate was only partly glucose-dependent, since a submaximal effect (1.5- to 2-fold, p<0.05) was seen also in the absence of glucose. The tyrosine kinase inhibitor genistein markedly blunted the effect of vanadate (from 3- to 4-fold to approximately 2-fold, p < 0.05) also indicating the importance of tyrosine phosphorylation-related mechanisms in the upregulation of cell surface insulin binding. Glycosylation of insulin receptors as a mechanism for this effect appears unlikely since neither the effect of insulin nor that of vanadate was altered by the glycosylation inhibitor tunicamycin. The time course for the insulin effect displayed a long duration (at least 6 h), suggesting a maintenance role of insulin keeping its receptors accessible for ligand binding at the cell surface. In conclusion, the effect of insulin and vanadate to upregulate cell-surface insulin receptors is energy-dependent and to some extent specifically glucose-dependent.     

Degradation of insulin receptors by hepatoma cells: insulin-induced down-regulation results from an increase in the rate of basal receptor degradation

The degradation of insulin receptors was studied in cultured Zajdela hepatoma cells (ZHC). Receptor distribution within the cell was evaluated by estimating: i) surface receptor level on entire cells, ii) total cell receptors solubilized by Triton from cell membranes and iii) intracellular receptors solubilized from cells whose surface receptors had been inactivated with trypsin. In the absence of insulin, 80-90% of the insulin binding sites were located on the cell surface. When insulin was added, a rapid decrease of surface receptors was observed. After 2 h, their level was reduced nearly by half; this reduction was accounted for by an actual receptor loss from the cell without an increase in the intracellular pool. These results indicate that insulin enhanced the rate of receptor degradation within the cell. Basal receptor inactivation was studied by using tunicamycin which inhibits new receptor synthesis. The surface receptor number was decreased with a half-life of 7 h, while the level of internal sites remained unchanged. Both basal and insulin-activated receptor degradation were markedly slowed down by chloroquine or dansylcadaverine, indicating the importance of endocytic pathways in this process. Similarly, when de novo protein glycosylation was inhibited for 24 h by tunicamycin, both basal and insulin-activated receptor inactivation were precluded.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Antibody-induced down-regulation of a mutated insulin receptor lacking an intact cytoplasmic domain

Insulin receptor down-regulation was studied in various Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell lines expressing transfected human insulin receptor cDNAs. In addition to a cell line expressing the normal receptor (CHO.T line), three lines expressing mutated receptors were studied: the CHO.T-t line, which expresses a receptor with a degraded cytoplasmic domain due to the removal of the C-terminal 112 amino acids, and the CHO.YF1 and CHO.YF3 lines, in which important autophosphorylation sites of the receptor kinase (tyrosines-1162 and -1163) have been replaced by phenylalanine. A monoclonal anti-receptor antibody, but not insulin itself, was found to down-regulate cell surface receptor levels in all four cell lines by 60-80% after 18-h treatment at 37 degrees C. Down-regulation of the CHO.T and CHO.T-t receptors occurred at similar antibody concentrations and with a similar time course, although the maximum level of CHO.T-t down-regulation (60%) was generally lower than the level of CHO.T down-regulation (80%). Pulse-chase labeling of these two cell types with [35S]methionine revealed that antibody treatment of both CHO.T and CHO.T-t cells resulted in a similar increase in the rate of degradation of mature receptor subunits. These results indicate that antibody-induced down-regulation of the insulin receptor in these cells can occur in the absence of various autophosphorylation sites of the receptor and that the mechanism of antibody-induced down-regulation is different from that for insulin.     

Metabolism of photoaffinity-labeled insulin receptors by adipocytes. Role of internalization, degradation, and recycling

Insulin receptors on isolated rat adipocytes were photoaffinity-labeled with a biologically active photo-derivative of insulin (iodinated B2 (2-nitro-4-azidophenylacetyl)-des- PheB1 -insulin) in order to study the metabolism of surface receptors after binding insulin. Adipocytes were incubated with iodinated B2 (2-nitro-4-azidophenylacetyl)-des- PheB1 -insulin (40 ng/ml) at 16 degrees C until specific binding reached equilibrium, subjected to photolysis, and then incubated at 37 degrees C to follow the metabolism of the covalent insulin-receptor complexes. Susceptibility of labeled insulin receptors to tryptic digestion was used to distinguish between receptors on the cell surface and those inside the cell. Following incubation of photoaffinity-labeled adipocytes at 37 degrees C, there was an initial rapid loss of insulin receptors from the cell surface. The internalization of insulin receptors occurred at a significantly faster rate than the loss of receptors from the cell, resulting in an accumulation of intracellular receptors. The proportion of surface-derived receptors inside the cell reached an apparent steady state after 30 min and represented about 20% of the labeled receptors originally on the cell surface. Chloroquine had no effect on the internalization of insulin receptors but inhibited their degradation. Cycloheximide inhibited both internalization and degradation of insulin receptors. After 60 min at 37 degrees C, the disappearance of insulin receptors from the cell surface slowed markedly and the overall loss of insulin receptors from the cell was minimal. If chloroquine was added at this time, there was a marked increase in the loss of receptors from the cell surface with a concomitant 2-fold increase in the intracellular pool of surface-derived receptors. From these observations, we conclude that 1) internalization is not rate-limiting in insulin receptor degradation, 2) chloroquine has no effect on the internalization of insulin receptors but inhibits the intracellular degradation of receptors, 3) cycloheximide interferes with both the internalization and degradation of insulin receptors, and 4) the plateau in the loss of labeled receptors from the cell surface after 60 min at 37 degrees C could be due to a new steady state balance between internalization and recycling of photoaffinity-labeled receptors.     

Uncoupling between the insulin-receptor cycle and the cellular degradation of the hormone in cultured foetal hepatocytes. Effect of drugs and temperature that inhibit insulin degradation.

Sequential changes in the numbers of cell-surface receptors induced by a transitory exposure to insulin in cultured 18-day foetal-rat hepatocytes were investigated in the presence of drugs and at a temperature of 22 degrees C, which inhibit cellular insulin degradation. Chloroquine (70 microM) and monensin (3 microM) did not greatly change the initial rate of internalization of cell-surface receptor sites after exposure to 10 nM-insulin, but led to a steady state after 20 min, which represented 40% of the initial binding, compared with 5 min and 60% in the absence of the drug. Moreover, these drugs strongly decreased the proportion of receptor sites recovered at the cell surface after subsequent removal of the hormone. They were ineffective when insulin was not present. The removal of monensin together with the hormone allowed partial restoration of cell-surface receptor sites and degradation of cell-associated insulin to start again at the initial speed, indicating a reversible effect of the drug. During this phase, the drug concentration-dependence for the two effects showed that receptor recycling was restored with concentrations of monensin not as low as for insulin degradation. The effect of vinblastine (50-100 microM) was similar to that of chloroquine and monensin, whereas no modification in the internalization and recovery processes was observed in the presence of bacitracin concentrations (1-3 mM) that inhibit insulin degradation by 70%. A temperature of 22 degrees C did not prevent the receptor internalization, but had a slowing effect on the recycling process, which appeared to vary in experiments where insulin degradation remained inhibited. The present study shows that the process of insulin degradation mediated by receptor endocytosis is not a prerequisite for insulin-receptor recycling in cultured foetal hepatocytes.     

Characterization of the stimulatory action of insulin on insulin-like growth factor II binding to rat adipose cells. Differences in the mechanism of insulin action on insulin-like growth factor II receptors and glucose transporters

Insulin is known to increase the number of cell surface insulin-like growth factor II (IGF-II) receptors in isolated rat adipose cells through a subcellular redistribution mechanism similar to that for the glucose transporter. The effects of insulin on these two processes, therefore, have now been directly compared in the same cell preparations. 1) Insulin increases the steady state number of cell surface IGF-II receptors by 7-13-fold without affecting receptor affinity; however, insulin stimulates glucose transport activity by 25-40-fold. 2) The insulin concentration required for half-maximal stimulation of cell surface IGF-II receptor number is approximately 30% lower than that for the stimulation of glucose transport activity. 3) The half-time for the achievement of insulin's maximal effect at 37 degrees C is much shorter for IGF-II receptor number (approximately 0.8 min) than for glucose transport activity (approximately 2.6 min). 4) Reversal of insulin's action at 37 degrees C occurs more rapidly for cell surface IGF-II receptors (t1/2 congruent to 2.9 min) than for glucose transport activity (t1/2 congruent to 4.9 min). 5) When the relative subcellular distribution of IGF-II receptors is examined in basal cells, less than 10% of the receptors are localized to the plasma membrane fraction indicating that most of the receptors, like glucose transporters, are localized to an intracellular compartment. However, in response to insulin, the number of plasma membrane IGF-II receptors increases only approximately 1.4-fold while the number of glucose transporters increases approximately 4.5-fold. Thus, while the stimulatory actions of insulin on cell surface IGF-II receptors and glucose transport activity are qualitatively similar, marked quantitative differences suggest that the subcellular cycling of these two integral membrane proteins occurs by distinct processes.