Regulation of glucose metabolism by adenine nucleotides in round spermatids from rat testes.

Regulation of glucose metabolism in glycolysis by round spermatids was studied. Assay of activities of 11 glycolytic enzymes in cell-free spermatid extracts showed that hexokinase, phosphofructokinase, and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase had the lowest activities. When the cells were incubated with glucose (10 mM), the intracellular level of ATP fell rapidly and 5'-AMP increased. The ADP level remained unchanged. During incubation with glucose, fructose-1,6-bisphosphate, dihydroxyacetone phosphate, and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate were accumulated without any change in a mass action ratio of fructose bisphosphate aldolase. Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase appeared to play a regulatory role in glycolysis. Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase was inhibited by the following compounds (Ki values in parentheses): adenosine (4.34 mM), 5'-AMP (3.50 mM), ADP (2.35 mM), ATP (5.34 mM), and 3',5'-cAMP (0.60 mM). In each case, the inhibition was competitive with NAD (Km = 0.20 mM). The 2'-hydroxy group of the adenine-linked ribose moiety was essential for binding. The compounds adenine, 2'-deoxyadenosine, 2'-AMP, 3'-AMP, CTP, GTP, UTP, and NADP showed little inhibition. These findings suggest that regulation of glycolysis in round spermatids by glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase is most likely and that glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase is inhibited by the adenine nucleotides, particularly by 5'-AMP and ADP as inhibitors competitive with NAD.