B1-3,5-diiodotyrosine insulin: a valid tracer for insulin.

Insulin, specifically substituted at the PheB1 position with 3,5-diiodotyrosine, has been tested in several biological and immunological systems. Immunoreactivity was assessed using antisera specific for different parts of the insulin molecule. Biological activity in vitro was estimated on isolated rat fat cells. In vivo bioactivity (hypoglycaemia) and metabolism (metabolic and urinary clearance rates, half-life, apparent distribution space) were measured by infusion of the material into greyhounds. The results indicated that this B1-labelled insulin preparation was biologically fully active and, unlike randomly labelled preparations of iodoinsulin, was metabolised with kinetics indistinguishable from those of the unlabelled hormone. We suggest that this material is a valid tracer for insulin, fulfilling the criteria of high specific activity and biological identity to the native hormone.