Hormonal stimulation of cyclic AMP accumulation and glycogen phosphorylase activity in calcium-depleted hepatocytes from euthyroid and hypothyroid rats.

Activation of glycogen phosphorylase by hormones was examined in hepatocytes isolated from euthyroid and hypothyroid female rats and incubated by Ca2+-free buffer containing 1 mM-EGTA. Basal glycogen phosphorylase activity was decreased in Ca2+-free buffer. However, the activation of hepatocyte glycogen phosphorylase, in the absence of extracellular Ca2+, in response to adrenaline, glucagon or phenylephrine was slightly lower, whereas that by vasopressin was abolished. The activation of glycogen phosphorylase by phenylephrine, adrenaline or isoproterenol (isoprenaline) in hepatocytes from euthyroid rats incubated in the absence of Ca2+ was not accompanied by any detectable increase in total cyclic AMP. The log-dose/response curves for activation of phosphorylase by phenylephrine or low concentrations of adrenaline were the same in hepatocytes from hypothyroid as compared wit euthyroid rats, whereas the response to isoproterenol was greater in hepatocytes from hypothyroid rats. However, the increases in total cyclic AMP accumulation caused by adrenaline or isoproterenol were greater in hepatocytes from hypothyroid rats than in hepatocytes from euthyroid rats. The increases in cyclic AMP accumulation caused by adrenaline or isoproterenol in Ca2+-depleted hepatocytes from hypothyroid rats were blocked by propranolol, a beta-adrenergic antagonist. In contrast, propranolol was only partially effective asan inhibitor of the activation of glycogen phosphorylase by phenylephrine or adrenaline in hepatocytes from hypothyroid rats and ineffective on phosphorylase activation in cells from euthyroid rats. These data indicate that the alpha-adrenergic activation of glycogen phosphorylase is not affected by the absence of extracellular Ca2+, and the extent to which total cyclic AMP was increased by adrenergic amines did not correlate with glycogen phosphorylase activation.