The degradation of [125I]iodoinsulin by cytosol from rat liver and the formation of high-molecular-weight products. A study by gel chromatography.

Degradation of [125I]iodoinsulin by cytosol from rat liver (as judged by the appearance of perchloric acid soluble counts) occurs rapidly and generates both high- and low-molecular-weight labelled products on chromatography on AcA54 or AcA202. One of the low-molecular-weight products can be converted to a high-molecular-weight product by further incubation with fresh cytosol. Degradation is not inhibited by chloroquine, but is affected by bacitracin. In the presence of bacitracin most of the radioactivity elutes in the void volume and possibly represents interaction of undegraded insulin with other cytoplasmic components.