Muscarinic m1 receptor-stimulated adenylate cyclase activity in Chinese hamster ovary cells is mediated by Gs alpha and is not a consequence of phosphoinositidase C activation.

The mechanism underlying muscarinic m1 receptor-mediated increases in adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP) was investigated in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells expressing human recombinant m1 muscarinic receptors (CHO-ml cells). Stimulation of CHO-ml cells with carbachol resulted in marked accumulation of Ins(1,4,5)P3 and cAMP, in an atropine-sensitive manner, with EC50 values (log M) of -5.16 +/- 0.06 and -3.93 +/- 0.07 respectively. Basal and agonist-stimulated cAMP accumulation were unaffected by a 5 min pretreatment with l microM phorbol 12,13-dibutyrate and were not attenuated by pertussis toxin (100 ng/ml, 20h). Agonist-stimulated cAMP accumulation was also observed in CHO-ml cell membranes incubated in a buffer containing 100 nM free Ca2+. Guanosine 5'- [gamma-thio]triphosphate (10 microM) potentiated agonist-stimulated cAMP accumulation in CHO-ml cell membranes, implicating a G-protein involvement in this response. Co-incubation of carbachol with forskolin (10 microM) produced a greater than additive accumulation of cAMP in CHO-ml cells. Furthermore, a C-terminal-directed anti-Gs alpha serum attenuated both carbachol-stimulated (in CHO-ml cell membranes) and isoprenaline-stimulated (in CHO-beta 2 cell membranes) cAMP accumulation with a similar dose-dependency. These results suggest that muscarinic agonist-stimulated cAMP accumulation in CHO-ml cells occurs via activation of Gs alpha and not as a consequence of phosphoinositidase C activation.