[Hormonal function of the insular apparatus and erythrocyte insulin-binding capacity during adaptation of the rat to high altitude].

Changes in blood glucose, glucagon and insulin as well as changes in insulin binding by specific receptors on blood erythrocytes, were studied in 45 rats on various days of adaptation to high altitude. By the 14th day the levels of blood insulin and glucagon were steadily decreasing, whereas glucose homeostasis remained on the same level. Insulin binding by receptors on erythrocytes increased on the 3rd and particularly on the 14th day. The importance of the said reaction is discussed in connection with its compensatory nature in maintaining increased glycolysis in erythrocytes and 2,3-DFG levels in them which in its turn leads to changes in hemoglobin affinity to oxygen and correction of tissue hypoxia.