Adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate (cAMP)-dependent protein kinase activity in rodent pituitary tissue: possible role in cAMP-dependent hormone secretion.

A cAMP-dependent protein kinase occurs in the intermediate lobe of the rat pituitary gland and the ACTH-secreting tumor AtT-20/D16-16 derived from the mouse pituitary gland. Exposure of either tissue to drugs increasing cAMP production and hormone release (forskolin, cholera toxin, or isoproterenol in the case of the intermediate lobe; forskolin or isoproterenol in the case of the AtT-20 cells) increases the cAMP-dependent protein kinase activity of a tissue homogenate in the absence, but not in the presence, of added cAMP. The potencies of these drugs to induce changes in the protein kinase activity ratio (i.e. enzyme activity in the absence of cAMP to enzyme activity in the presence of 3 microM cAMP) are comparable with their potencies as stimulants of hormone secretion. In either tissue, A23187, a calcium ionophore that stimulates hormone release but not cAMP production, does not change the protein kinase activity ratio. In the case of the AtT-20 cells, dexamethasone blocks the release of ACTH simulated by either isoproterenol or forskolin, but does not alter the enhancement of protein kinase activity induced by these drugs. Conversely, dexamethasone does not block the A23187-stimulated release of ACTH. The data suggest that cAMP modulates (but does not trigger) hormone secretion from the rodent pituitary gland by a mechanism involving activation of the cAMP-dependent protein kinase. Several possible sites for this modulatory effect of cAMP are discussed.