Effects of dibutyryl cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate and parathyroid extract on calcium and phosphorus metabolism in hypoparathyroidism and pseudohypoparathyroidism.

It has been proposed previously that the metabolic defect in pseudohypoparathyroidism which accounts for parathyroid hormone unresponsiveness is an absence or abnormal form of the adenyl cyclase system in kidney and presumably in bone. To determine whether there is an associated defect in the response mechanism to cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate (cyclic AMP), the effects of parathyroid extract (PTE), and dibutyryl cyclic AMP were compared in patients with either surgical hypoparathyroidism or pseudohypoparathyroidism. PTE and dibutyryl cyclic AMP both increased serum and urinary calcium, lowered the serum phosphorus, and increased urinary phosphorus in patients with hypoparathyroidism. PTE also increased urinary cyclic AMP in these patients. PTE increased serum and urinary calcium and urinary phosphorus but did not alter serum phosphorus or urinary cyclic AMP in the patients with pseudohypoparathyroidism. Dibutyryl cyclic AMP increased the serum and urinary calcium, lowered the serum phosphorus, and increased urinary phosphorus in all the patients with pseudohypoparathyroidism. The results indicate that (a) dibutyryl cyclic AMP can reproduce the effects of parathyroid hormone on calcium and phosphorus metabolism in man, (b) the response mechanism to cyclic AMP appears to be intact in pseudohypoparathyroidism, and (c) PTE apparently produces some of its characteristic effects on calcium and phosphorus metabolism in pseudohypoparathyroidism in the absence of an increase in urinary cyclic AMP.