Stimulation of intestinal mucosal adenyl cyclase by cholera enterotoxin and prostaglandins

Daniel V. Kimberg; Michael Field; Judith Johnson; Antonia Henderson; Elaine Gershon

doi:10.1172/JCI106599

Stimulation of intestinal mucosal adenyl cyclase by cholera enterotoxin and prostaglandins

Daniel V. Kimberg, Michael Field, Judith Johnson, Antonia Henderson, and Elaine Gershon

Published June 1, 1971 - More info

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Abstract

The effects of several prostaglandins (PG) and a highly purified preparation of cholera enterotoxin (CT) on intestinal mucosal adenyl cyclase activity and the effect of CT on intestinal mucosal cyclic 3′,5′-adenosine monophosphate concentration were determined in guinea pig and rabbit small intestine and were correlated with the effects of the same agents on ion transport. Adenyl cyclase activity, measured in a crude membrane fraction of the mucosa, was found at all levels of the small intestine with the highest activity per milligram protein in the duodenum. The prostaglandins, when added directly to the assay, increased adenyl cyclase activity; the greatest effect (2-fold increase) was obtained with PGE₁ (maximal effect at 0.03 mM) and PGE₂. The prostaglandins also increased short-circuit current (SCC) in isolated guinea pig ileal mucosa, with PGE₁ and PGE₂ again giving the greatest effects. The prior addition of theophylline (10 mM) reduced the subsequent SCC response to PGE₁ and vice versa. It was concluded, therefore, that the SCC response to PGE₁, like the response to theophylline, represented active Cl secretion. CT increased adenyl cyclase activity in guinea pig and rabbit ileal mucosa when preincubated with the mucosa from 1 to 2.5 hr in vitro or for 2.5 hr in vivo but not when added directly to the assay. The increments in activity caused by PGE₁ and NaF were the same in CT-treated and control mucosa. Cyclic 3′,5′-AMP concentration in rabbit ileal mucosa was increased 3.5-fold after a 2 hr preincubation with CT in vitro. Phosphodiesterase activity in the crude membrane fraction of the mucosa was unaffected by either CT or PGE₁. A variety of other agents including insulin, glucagon, parathormone, thyroid-stimulating hormone, L-thyroxine, thyrocalcitonin, vasopressin, and epinephrine all failed to change adenyl cyclase activity. It is concluded that CT and certain prostaglandins produce small intestinal fluid secretion by increasing mucosal adenyl cyclase activity, thereby stimulating an active secretory process.