Mode of action of Vibrio cholerae enterotoxin in cultured adrenal tumor cells.

The effects of Vibrio cholerae enterotoxin on steroidogenesis and on formation of adenosine 3':5'-cyclic phosphate (cyclic AMP) in two adrenal tumor cell lines were compared. Steroidogenesis was half-maximal at concentrations of 1 ng of cholera toxin/ml in the mutant OS-3 cells and 3 ng of cholera toxin/ml in the parent Y-1 cells. At the end of an 8-hr incubation, toxin-induced formation of cyclic AMP in the mutant cell line was reduced by 90%. A molar ratio of GM1 ganglioside (galactosyl-N-acetylgalactosaminyl [sialosyl] lactosyl ceramide; GGnSLC) to cholera toxin of 3:1 caused half-maximal inhibition of steroidogenesis in both cell lines. When equine antiserum to choleragenoid was added to adrenal cells 15 min after cholera toxin, there was marked inhibition of cyclic AMP formation and of steroidogenesis. Pretreatment of Y-1 cells with adrenocorticotropin rendered them unresponsive to hormonal induction of cyclic AMP formation, but these cells had an unimpaired response to cholera toxin. These studies, utilizing two adrenal cell lines, suggest important differences between the mode of action of cholera toxin and that of adrenocorticotropin in cultured adrenal tumor cells.