Putative mediators of insulin action: regulation of pyruvate dehydrogenase and adenylate cyclase activities.

Recent evidence suggests that certain actions of insulin may be mediated by the selective generation of chemically undefined intracellular substances. Incubation of rat liver particulate fraction with low concentrations of insulin enhances the release into the supernatant of a substance that stimulates mitochondrial pyruvate dehydrogenase. Higher concentrations of insulin release less stimulating activity. It is possible to resolve activities that stimulate and inhibit pyruvate dehydrogenase by differential ethanol extraction of the supernatant solutions. The elaboration of both factors is dependent upon the presence of insulin in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover, fractions that contain the pyruvate dehydrogenase-inhibiting activity also inhibit adipocyte basal and hormonally stimulated adenylate cyclase. The production of this adenylate cyclase inhibitory activity is also stimulated by insulin. Cyclase inhibition is virtually abolished when the nonhydrolyzable ATP analog, 5'-adenylyl imidodiphosphate, is included in the assay. These results indicate that the bimodal effects of insulin on certain functions may be ascribed to the generation of at least two distinct chemical substances that show opposing activities, which may operate by regulating phosphorylation reactions.