Effects of Insulin on the Permeability of D- and L-Xylose and D- and L-Arabinose in Rat Diaphragm Muscle

The permeability characteristics of D- and L-xylose and D- and L-arabinose have been compared in isolated intact rat diaphragm muscle preparations, in the absence and presence of exogenous insulin. In the absence of added insulin, these pentoses distribute in less than a third of the total cell water. In the presence of added insulin, intracellular distribution of all these pentoses is increased. L-Xylose and D-arabinose distribute in 50 per cent of the intracellular water, whereas D-xylose and L-arabinose distribute in 80 per cent of the cell water. A significant lag period was observed before the insulin effect upon the penetration of L-xylose and D-arabinose was evident whereas the effect upon D-xylose and L-arabinose was rapid. The lag period with L-xylose could be abolished by pretreating the tissues with insulin for 1 hour, but such pretreatment had little effect on D-xylose. These results indicate that insulin has a biphasic effect upon the monosaccharide exclusion system in diaphragm muscle. In dinitrophenol-treated tissues, in which all permeability processes are irreversibly damaged and in which sucrose and pentoses penetrate into most of the cell water, the entry rate of pentoses and sucrose is initially similar but subsequently D-xylose and L-arabinose penetrate more rapidly than their corresponding optical isomers.