Urinary cyclic AMP excretion during volume expansion in the rat.

We have studied the effect of volume expansion with 0.9% saline solution (10% body weight in 1 h) on urinary cyclic AMP excretion in rats. In nine normal rats urinary cyclic AMP excretion (picomoles/minute) was 113.9+/-9.9 during the control period, rose significantly to 171+/-20 during the first 10 min of expansion, came back to control levels for the next 20 min, and finally decreased significantly to 48.8+/-13.2 at the end of the expansion period. In nine parathyroidectomized rats control cyclic AMP excretion was 78.0+/-4.5, did not rise during expansion, and decreased significantly (to 33.7+/-4.1) at the end of the expansion period. The transient increase in cyclic AMP excretion observed in normal rats could be due to parathyroid hormone release. Our studies do not allow us to explain the subsequent decrease noted in both groups.     

Iontophoresis of cyclic AMP.

The design, calibration, and operation of a source of controlled amounts of cyclic AMP (c-AMP) are described. Typically, 1.5 s pulses containing 10(10)-10(-12) molecules of c-AMP can be delivered to a region about 10 mum in diameter on an agar plate. The resulting concentration profiles are given as functions of distance and time. The diffusion coefficient of c-AMP in agar was measured to be 0.97 times 10(-5) cm2-s-1 at 21 degrees C.     

Endogenous cyclic AMP in thyroid cell culture. Effect of thyroid-stimulating hormone and dibutyryl cyclic AMP.

We have studied the variations of endogenous cyclic AMP levels in thyroid cells cultured over a period of 7 days in several conditions: in the presence of thyroid-stimulating hormone or dibutyryl cyclic AMP which both promote the aggregation of isolated cells into follicles, and in their absence when cells develop as a typical monolayer. In follicle-forming cells, the cyclic AMP level was found to rise during the first day of culture, then to fall rapidly. In monolayer-forming cells, the cyclic AMP content slightly increases attaining the same level as found in other cells at the fourth day, which remains stable till the seventh day. We have investigated the response of these cells cultured in the presence of dibutyryl cyclic AMP retain the capability of increasing their cyclic AMP concentration whereas monolayer-forming cells do not preserve this quality of thyroid cells.     

Urinary adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate (cyclic AMP) in normal and cryptorchid boys.

The 24-hour urinary excretion of cyclic AMP was determined in 102 normal boys aged 1.9-16.9 years and in 136 cryptorchids aged 2.5-16.9 years. A marked increase of the normal cyclic AMP excretion was found in pubertal years. There was a positive correlation between urinary excretion of cyclic AMP and the excretion of testosterone, androstenedione, LH and FSH. A positive correlation was also found between cyclic AMP excretion and height and weight, respectively. Mean cyclic AMP excretion of bilateral and unilateral cryptorchids was normal in all bone age groups except in unilateral cases with bone age 8-9.9 years and bone aged greater than or equal to 14 years. In these two groups, mean cyclic AMP excretion was moderately increased. After HCG stimulation of 25 cryptorchids, urinary cyclic AMP excretion varied between increased, unchanged and decreased values. The cyclic AMP excretion changes observed in some of our patients were difficult to interpret and were possibly of unspecific nature. Further information about the testiclar cyclic AMP secretion and the relationship between this nucleotide and sexual hormones may be obtained from studies in testicular biopsy tissue.     

Glucose synthesis by isolated guinea-pig hepatocytes. Effect of cyclic AMP and dibutyryl cyclic AMP.

In isolated guinea-pig hepatocytes, dibutyryl cyclic AMP stimulated gluconeogenesis from 2 mM galactose by 25 and 40% respectively. In the presence of 0.5 mM theophylline, cyclic AMP (0.1 mM) increased glucose synthesis from lactate and galactose by 26 and 34% respectively.     

Endogenous cyclic AMP in thyroid cell culture. Effect of thyroid-stimulating hormone and dibutyryl cyclic AMP

We have studied the variations of endogenous cyclic AMP levels in thyroid cells cultured over a period of 7 days in several conditions: in the presence of thyroid-stimulating hormone or dibutyryl cyclin AMP which both promote the aggregation of isolated cell into follicles, and in their absence when cells develop as a typical monolayer. In follicle-forming cells, the cyclic AMP level was found to rise during the first day of culture, then to fall rapidly. In monolayer-forming cells, the cyclic AMP content slightly increases attaining the same level as found in other cells at the fourth day, which remains stable till the seventh day. We have investigated the response of these cells to the acute effect of thyroid-stimulating hormone: only cells cultured in the presence of dibutyryl cyclic AMP retain the capability of increasing their cycli AMP concentration whereas monolayer-forming cells do not preserve this quality of thyroid cells.     

Modulators of cyclic AMP systems.

On the basis of the data reported here, one may conclude that although many agents that act in the central nervous system are modulators of the action of cyclic AMP, it is difficult to establish a direct connection between the pharmacologic activity and the levels of cyclic AMP in the brain. This lack of interrelation applies to the benzodiazepines as well as to the pyrazolopyridines. The data for members of the latter group are somewhat frustrating in this regard, since an excellent correlation has been shown to exist between the potency of inhibition of PDE and activity in the antianxiety test. In measurements of steroidogenesis in the isolated adrenal cell, the correlation between activity in vito and the conflict assay is even better. The data presented here and reported elsewhere (Shimizu et al., 1974; Kelly et al., 1974; Mayer and King, 1974; King and Mayer, 1974) provide evidence that agents that act as inhibitors of PDE in cell-free systems exert their influence on cyclic AMP in tissue slices of the brain of guinea pigs by mechanisms that seem not to be related to an effect on PDE. Papaverine, and possibly chlordiazepoxide, may act by releasing agonists that, in turn, stimulate the accumulation of cyclic AMP. This activity is blocked bo other inhibitors of PDE, such as theophyline. Results obtained by the use of platelets are refreshingly clear. Inhibition of aggregation has been shown to occur when the level of cyclic AMP is raised, and a suggestive exists that the most potent inhibitors of platelet PDE are the best potentiators of the action of PGE1 in blocking aggregation. The study utilizing drugs collected from a large number of therapeutic classes makes clear that it is difficult to attribute the mechanism of action for any of the classes studied to modulation of cyclic AMP. An unexpected finding of this study, however, was the fact that pharmacologic agents include an unusually large number of inhibitors of PDE as compared with agents chosen at random. This finding provides a powerful tool for the biochemical pharmacologist who is examining large numbers of compounds in the search for potential drugs.     

Extracellular metabolism of cyclic AMP.

Intravenously administered cyclic [8-3H]AMP to rats was quickly eliminated from the circulation. After 2 min 93% of the administered radioactivity disappeared from the plasues was recovered mainly in the form of nucleotides, ATP, ADP, AMP and IMP. In vitro contact of cyclic AMP with perfused liver, isolated liver cells and adipose tissue resulted in a rapid breakdown of the nucleotide, presumably on the outer surface of the cells. The degradation products have been identified mainly as adenosine and inosine. Incubation of adipose tissue and isolated liver cells with [3H] AMP also resulted in the breakdown of the nucleotide in themedium. The rate of AMP degradation by these tissues was faster than that for cyclic AMP degradation. The data suggest that cyclic AMP is readily metabolized on the outer surface of cells to products which may be converted within the cells to nucleotides. These findings seem of importance for the quantitative assessments of cellular cyclic AMP outflow during hormonal stimulation.     

Induction of cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase in Blastocladiella emersonii and its relation to cyclic AMP metabolism.

Extracts of vegetative cells of Blastocladiella emersonii contain 5% or less of the cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase activity in zoospore extracts. This difference in activity could be accounted for entirely by an increase in the differential rate of phosphodiesterase synthesis during sporulation, beginning after a lag period of about 60 min and extending for at least an additional 90 min into the 4-h sporulation process. To examine the relation between enzyme synthesis and cyclic nucleotide metabolicm, we determined the substrate specificity of phosphodiesterase synthesized during sporulation and partially purified from zoospores. Zoospore extracts contain two components, separable by gel filtration chromatography, with cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase activity. The larger component accounts for 20% of the total activity and the smaller component for 80%. Both components show essentially an absolute substrate specificity for cyclic AMP among several cyclic purine and cyclic pyrimidine nucleotides tested. Nevertheless, we found no change in the total cyclic AMP content of sporulating cells before, during, or after enzyme activity increased. We speculate that some other component of cyclic AMP metabolism or function limits the rate of cyclic AMP hydrolysis in sporulating cells.     

Inhibition by cyclic AMP and dibutyryl cyclic AMP of transport of organic acids in kidney cortex.

1. Cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate and N-6-2'-O-dibutyryl cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate decrease the initial entry rate and the steady-state uptake of p-aminohippurate and uric acid by rabbit kidney cortex slices. 2. N-6-2'-O-Dibutyryl adenosine 3'-5'-monophosphate inhibits the tubular transport of p-aminohippurate competitively. 3. Isoproterenol, known to increase cyclic nucleotide concentration of the cortical tubules by activation of adenyl cyclase, decreases p-aminohippurate transport. Antidiuretic hormone which is known to stimulate only medullary adenyl cyclase has no effect on p-amino-hippurate uptake by cortical slices. 4. Theophylline, which inhibits cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase and, therefore, enhances the cellular accumulation of endogenous cyclic nucleotide, depresses p-aminohippurate transport.     

The role of cyclic AMP in myogenesis.

The effect of exogenously administered cyclic AMP derivatives and of endogenously elevated cyclic AMP levels on the spontaneous fusion of skeletal muscle myoblasts has been investigated. Contrary to earlier reports, cAMP does not appear to have a direct inhibitory effect on the fusion of an established line (L8) of rat myoblasts. Similarly, cAMP did not block the fusion of primary chick myoblasts. However, fusion of the rat myoblasts was prevented when the cAMP induced inhibition of growth prevented the cells from reaching the "critical" cell density necessary for fusion.     

Kinetics of cyclic AMP in toad bladder.

Tissue distributions of cyclic [3H]AMP and [14C]inulin in toad bladder were determined and their kinetics analyzed. We found that both the epithelial and the other cells of the toad bladder handle cyclic AMP similarly. Moreover, we found that the distribution of cyclic AMP did not differ from that of inulin, an extracellular marker. Kinetic analysis suggests that the rate coefficient of cyclic AMP metabolism is much larger than the exchange rate coefficient, which explains why distribution of both cyclic AMP and inulin are similar.     

Rapid assay for cyclic AMP and cyclic GMP phosphodiesterases.

A rapid highly sensitive assay for cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase has been devised. After a 5-min incubation, cyclic AMP is readily resolved from 5′-AMP, adenosine, and inosine by ion-exchange thin-layer chromatography on 1.3 × 6.5-cm strips of PEI-cellulose for 7 to 8 min. This procedure combines the accuracy of the standard paper chromatography assay (1) with the speed of ion-exchange resin techniques (2), while surmounting some of the major drawbacks of the other two methods (3). Since chromatography on PEI-cellulose efficiently resolves cyclic GMP, 5′-GMP, and guanosine, this methodology has also been adapted to the measurement of cyclic GMP hydrolysis.     

Urinary cyclic AMP excretion is increased in Macaca fascicularis and Macaca mulatta compared to humans

Changes in parathyroid hormone and its second messenger cyclic AMP have been implicated in the pathogenesis of osteoporosis. Nonhuman primate models have been useful in the study of osteoporosis, but the physiology of mineral metabolism in certain species is different than in humans. We investigated parameters of mineral metabolism in 15 normal adult female cynomolgus and 14 normal adult female rhesus monkeys. In both species, urinary cyclic AMP was increased compared with humans, and the nephrogenous cyclic AMP in the cynomolgus monkeys was also elevated. Despite this, there was no evidence for hyperparathyroidism in either species as evaluated by serum or plasma phosphorus and midregion-specific and/or aminoterminal-specific immunoreactive parathyroid hormone. Given the increasing use of nonhuman primates in the study of osteoporosis, understanding basic changes in mineral metabolism is important before pathologic effects of bone loss can be understood.     

Interdomain interaction of cyclic AMP receptor protein in the absence of cyclic AMP

Interdomain interaction of apo-cyclic AMP receptor protein (apo-CRP) was qualified using its isolated domains. The cAMP-binding domain was prepared by a limited proteolysis, while the DNA-binding domain was constructed as a recombinant protein. Three different regions making interdomain contacts in apo-CRP were identified by a sequence-specific comparison of the HSQC spectra. The results indicated that apo-CRP possesses characteristic modules of interdomain interaction that are properly organized to suppress activity and to sense and transfer the cAMP binding signals. Particularly, the inertness of the DNA-binding motif in apo-CRP was attributable to the participation of F-helices in the interdomain contacts.