Characterization of the metabolism of exogenous cyclic AMP by perfused rat heart and incubated prepubertal rat ovary.

In order to study the metabolism of extracellular 3',5'-adenosine monophosphate (cAMP), rat hearts were perfused and prepubertal rat ovaries incubated with 3H- and 32P-labelled cAMP (0.025-1 muM). The rate of disappearance of cAMP from the medium was determined by "Ba-Zn-precipitation" and degradation products of 3H- and 32P-CAMP by paper chromatography. Both tissues degraded cAMP to 5'-adenosine monophosphate (AMP), but the enzyme kinetic for this phosphodiesterase activity was different (apparent Km value for the heart 3.95 muM and for the ovary 0.2 muM). AMP was further degraded, since also other labelled substances were found in the medium. An uptake of both 3H- and 32P-labelled substance(s) into the heart and the ovary was noticed. Tissue extracts contained several labelled purines, but the amounts of labelled cAMP did not exceed expected amounts in the extracellular space. In the ovary the uptake of cAMP and AMP seemed to be low, since the uptake of labelled substances was inhibited by high concentrations of unlabelled AMP or adenosine. The degradation of 32P-cAMP was unchanged when AMP was present, strongly suggesting that the phosphodiesterase enzyme was acting extracellularly. In the heart added AMP was very rapidly degraded making it impossible to elucidate whether cAMP was degraded extracellularly or not. It is concluded that elimination of extracellular cAMP under physiological conditions can be due to degradation of cAMP by various tissues. At least for the ovary this phosphodiesterase enzyme is extracellularly active.