Abstract
Insulin has been implicated as a growth factor in fetal life. Clinical and experimental studies have shown that fetal hyperinsulinism leads to macrosomia. Studies in adult humans have demonstrated that changes in insulin binding to mononuclear cells mirror changes in other tissues. In an attempt to clarify the role of insulin in the fetus, we have studied insulin receptors on mononuclear leukocytes in cord blood from 12 normal newborns. Eight healthy young adults served as controls. The average specific binding in the absence of unlabelled insulin was 24.3 ± 3.5% and 4.7 ± 0.9% in newborns and adults respectively. This increase in binding is caused by an increase in number of receptor sites per cell, as well as by an increase in receptor affinity. The newborns had an average of 44600 receptor sites per cell compared with 7100 for the adult controls. An average affinity constant Ke was 5.9 × 108M−1 for newborns, and 2.9 × 108M−1 for the adults. This finding of markedly high concentrations of high affinity receptors for insulin on fetal cells may reflect the importance of insulin in intrauterine growth and development.
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Thorsson, A., Hintz, R. & Brook, C. Increased affinity and number of insulin receptors in the fetus. Pediatr Res 12, 150 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197802000-00026
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197802000-00026
