Different signal transduction pathways are coupled to the nucleotide receptor and the P2Y receptor in C6 glioma cells.

In C6 glioma cells, extracellular ATP and other nucleotide analogs stimulated phosphoinositide (PI) breakdown and inhibited isoproterenol-induced cyclic AMP (cAMP) accumulation. The rank orders of potencies of 15 nucleotide analogs for both responses were clearly different. ATP and adenosine 5'-O-(3-thiotriphosphate) are the most potent agonists for stimulating PI hydrolysis; 2-methylthio-ATP (2-MeSATP) is the most potent agonist for inhibiting cAMP accumulation. P1-mediated responses of PI turnover and cAMP formation are not present in C6 glioma cells. Pertussis toxin (PTX) blocked the nucleotide-induced inhibition of cAMP accumulation but exerted no effect on inositol phosphate formation. Short-term treatment with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate inhibited both signal transduction pathways. The effects of three P2 purinergic antagonists, suramin, reactive blue and 4,4'-diisothiocyanatostilbene sulfonic acid (DIDS), on ATP- and 2-MeSATP-induced stimulation of PI turnover and inhibition of cAMP formation, respectively, were compared. For stimulating PI turnover, suramin is a competitive antagonist (pA2, 4.4); reactive blue and DIDS are noncompetitive antagonists at 30 microM and 100 microM, respectively. For the inhibition of cAMP formation, reactive blue and DIDS competitively antagonized the response of 2-MeSATP (pA2 values, 6.3 for reactive blue and 5.7 for DIDS); suramin was only slightly effective at 100 microM. It was concluded that the nucleotide receptor is linked to phospholipase C by a PTX-insensitive Gp protein and the P2Y receptor is linked to adenylyl cyclase by a PTX-sensitive Gi protein. Suramin is a competitive antagonist for the nucleotide receptor; reactive blue and DIDS are more selective antagonists for the P2Y receptor.