Handling of insulin by the isolated perfused rat kidney.

The organ clearance of insulin calculated from the rate of disappearance of immunoreactive insulin from the perfusate averages 0.76 ml.min-1.g kidneys wt-1, a value greater than the simultaneously measured glomerular filtration rate. Clearance does not fall when hormone concentration is as high as 7 X 10(-8) M (10,000 microunits/ml). Fifteen percent of the cleared insulin is excreted in the urine; the remainder is chemically modified and appears in the perfusate both as low molecular weight fragments and as high molecular weight species. In the process of clearing the hormone, kidney tissue accumulates both intact insulin and 125I-labeled insulin degradation products. the organ clearance of insulin is not curtailed when the glomerular filtration rate is sufficiently reduced (by lowering perfusate pressure) to cause urine flow to cease. Studies using hyperglycemic perfusates and kidneys taken from starving or streptozotocin-diabetic animals provided no evidence that the kidney plays a role in the regulation of plasma glucose by modulating the rate of insulin degradation.