Involvement of Both Inhibitory and Stimulatory Guanine Nucleotide Binding Proteins in the Expression of Chronic Opiate Regulation of Adenylate Cyclase Activity in NG108-15 Cells

Abstract: Chronic etorphine treatment of neuroblastoma × glioma NG108-15 cells results in both an increase in adenylate cyclase activity (upon addition of the opiate antagonist naloxone) as well as an homologous desensitization of the opiate receptor. The continued ability of opiate agonists to regulate adenylate cyclase activity following opiate receptor desensitization can be understood by proposing that the catalytic subunit of adenylate cyclase in NG108-15 cells is under tonic regulation by both guanine nucleotide regulatory (N_i) and stimulatory (N_s) components. Inactivation of N_i by pertussis toxin (PT) treatment resulted in elevated adenylate cyclase activities comparable to those observed in control cells following chronic opiate treatment. This increased enzymatic activity could not be further induced by PT treatment of cells exposed to opiate previously. In addition, procedures that prevented receptor-mediated activation of N_s, i.e., treatment with NaF or desensitization of the stimulatory receptors (prostaglandin E₁, adenosine) eliminated the increase in adenylate cyclase activity induced by naloxone following chronic opiate exposure. Hence, the increase in enzymatic activity observed following chronic opiate treatment may be due to a loss in tonic inhibitory regulation of adenylate cyclase mediated through N_i resulting in the unimpeded expression of N_s activity. This tonic inhibition of adenylate cyclase activity is one of the multiple mechanisms by which N_i regulates adenylate cyclase in this cell line.