Regulation of carnitine palmitoyltransferase by insulin results in decreased activity and decreased apparent Ki values for malonyl-CoA.

Administration to normal rats of 100 mg of streptozotocin/kg body weight produced ketotic diabetic rats in which the affinity of carnitine palmitoyltransferase for malonyl-CoA was decreased by 10-fold and its activity was increased by 30%, but the injection of insulin brought the affinity and the activity back to normal within 4 h. Administration of 60 mg of streptozotocin/kg produced non-ketotic diabetic rats and caused a less substantial change in the affinity of carnitine palmitoyltransferase for malonyl-CoA. In the BB Wistar diabetic rat, the onset of diabetes also increased the activity of carnitine palmitoyltransferase and decreased its affinity for malonyl-CoA. Injection of insulin brought both of these values back to normal within 2 h. The total activity of mitochondrial carnitine palmitoyltransferase (outer + inner activities) was 40% greater in the BB Wistar diabetic rat, but treatment with insulin did not decrease the total activity to normal values within 2 h. The elevated activity and decreased affinity for malonyl-CoA found in fasting rats did not respond to short-term insulin treatment. The evaluation of a previous report that cycloheximide blocks the effects of starvation indicated that cycloheximide did not act by inhibiting protein synthesis, but produced its effect by preventing gastric emptying. Current data suggest that diabetes increases the activity of carnitine palmitoyltransferase and greatly diminishes the affinity of the enzyme for malonyl-CoA and that the severity of diabetes is associated with differences in the affinity of the enzyme for its inhibitor. Insulin acts on the outer carnitine palmitoyltransferase to reverse these effects very rapidly, but diabetes produces some change in the total activity that is not reversed by short-term treatment with insulin.