Inhibition of opiate receptor-mediated signal transmission by rabies virus in persistently infected NG-108-15 mouse neuroblastoma-rat glioma hybrid cells.

Acute and persistent rabies virus infection of mouse neuroblastoma-rat glioma hybrid cells (NG-108-15) results in a loss of the normal inhibiting function of opiates via the opiate receptor on hormone-stimulated adenylate cyclase activity. Previous studies of these persistently infected cells have shown a decrease in the affinity of the opiate receptors for agonists without any change in the number of these receptors. We now demonstrate that persistently infected cells are unable to couple the opiate receptors to the inhibitory regulatory protein Ni of the adenylate cyclase, as measured by the loss of stimulation of the GTPase activity of this protein. However, the unstimulated basal GTPase activities of the regulatory components Ni and Ns are unchanged in the persistently infected cells. These studies also reveal a disorder of the stimulation of the adenylate cyclase by GTP or fluoride via the stimulating regulatory G/F protein (Ns) in persistently infected cells, whereas direct stimulation of the catalytic subunit of the adenylate cyclase by forskolin remains unchanged. Therefore, there are different points of dysfunction caused by the persistent rabies infection in the signal pathway from the opiate receptor to the adenylate cyclase and from the stimulating Ns protein to the enzyme: (i) opiate receptor binding is reduced by a decrease of agonist affinity (previously published data), (ii) the stimulation of GTPase activity of the inhibiting regulatory component Ni of the adenylate cyclase system is inhibited, and (iii) the signal pathway from the stimulating regulatory component of the adenylate cyclase system to the unchanged activity of the catalytic subunit is defective.