Insulin receptor signal transduction depends on the precise intracellular localization of signalling molecules. This study examines the compartmentalization and the insulin-induced translocation and tyrosine phosphorylation of insulin receptor substrates (IRS-1 and IRS-3) in epididymal white adipose tissue from adult and insulin-resistant old rats. We found that insulin induces the translocation of IRS-1 from plasma membrane (PM) and light microsomes (LM) to cytosol, whereas IRS-3 translocates from PM to LM and cytosol upon insulin stimulation. Old rat adipocytes are characterized by higher relative levels of IRS proteins, under basal conditions, in those fractions where they are intended to translocate in response to insulin and exhibit a higher phosphotyrosine content of IRS-1 and -3 in basal conditions and a lower maximal phosphorylation in response to insulin. Furthermore, old rat adipocytes are also characterized by a reduced ability of insulin to stimulate both, Akt/PKB activity and translocation of GLUT4 to the PM. We conclude that the lower stimulation of downstream insulin signalling involved in glucose metabolism in old rat adipocytes may be explained, at least in part, by the altered subcellular distribution of IRS-1 and -3 proteins. In addition, our data suggest that the mechanism of turning on/off insulin receptor-mediated signal is impaired with aging.