Reticulocytes and insulin binding to erythrocytes.

The relationship between erythrocyte insulin receptors and the reticulocytes were studied in a group with a varying degree of reticulocytosis. The maximal I-insulin binding to erythrocytes varied between 6% and 37% and it showed a highly significant positive correlation with the reticulocyte count (r=0.85). The highest binding was found in a patient with hereditary spherocytosis and very active hematopoiesis (312 x 10(9) reticulocytes per litre). The results suggest that insulin receptors are predominantly localized to the young erythrocytes, and that further studies are needed to characterize the dependence of the receptor on erythrocyte maturation.