Adrenal cortex adenylate cyclase. In vitro acitivity of ACTH fragments and analogues.

The ability of ACTH fragments and of an ACTH analogue [9-tryptophan(o-nitrophenylsulfenyl)] corticotropin-(1-24)-tetracosapeptide[Trp-(Nps)9 ACTH1-24] to stimulate adenylate cyclase in bovine adrenal cortex membranes and a crude membrane fraction from rat adrenals has been determined. Partial agonists like Trp (Nps)9 ACTH1-24 displayed intrinsic activity in the rat adrenal preparation only if tested in the presence of 5'-guanylylimidodiphosphate [Gpp(NH)p]. On the other hand, no addition of Gpp(NH)p was necessary to demonstrate intrinsic activity of Trp(Nps)9 ACTH1-24 for bovine adrenal cortex adenylate cyclase. A large decrease (15-fold) of the apparent Km values for ACTH1-24, ACTH1-23 and ACTH1-17 was observed with the rat adrenal preparation when Gpp(NH)p was added. The shift in apparent Km values for ACTH1-24 and ACTH1-23 for the bovine adrenal cortex adenylate cyclase system was small or insignificant when Gpp(NH)p was added. The observations suggest that the hormone receptor facilitates the action of guanylnucleotide sites in the membrane. When guanylnucleotide sites are occupied by Gpp(NH)p even weak interactions of the hormone receptor with e.g. partial agonists are propagated to the catalytic subunits of the adenylate cyclase complex resulting in enhanced activity. The differences in adenylate cyclase activation with hormone fragments or analogues and different target tissues may rather reflect the state of the coupling process involving guanylnucleotide binding sites of the isolated membrane fraction than differences in the receptor itself.