Mechanism of action of cholera toxin: studies on the lag period.

The lag period for activation of adenylate cyclase by choleragen was shorter in mouse neuroblastoma N18 cells than in rat glial C6 cells. N18 cells have 500-fold more toxin receptors than C6 cells. Treatment of C6 cells with ganglioside GM1 increased the number of toxin receptors and decreased the lag phase. Choleragen concentration also effected the lag phase, which increased as the toxin concentration and the amount of toxin bound decreased. The concentration, however, required for half-maximal activation of adenylate cyclase depended on the exposure time; at 1.5, 24, and 48 hr, the values were 200, 1.1, and 0.35 PM, respectively. Under the latter conditions, each cell was exposed to 84 molecules to toxin. The length of the lag period was temperature-dependent. When exposed to choleragen at 37, 24, and 20 degrees C, C6 cells began to accumulate cyclic AMP after 50, 90, and 180 min, respectively. In GM1-treated cells, the corresponding times were 35, 60, and 120 min. Cells treated with toxin at 15 degrees C for up to 22 hr did not accumulate cAMP, whereas above this temperature they did. Antiserum to choleragen, when added prior to choleragen, completely blocked the activation of adenylate cyclase. When added after the toxin, the antitoxin lost its inhibitory capability in a time and temperature-dependent manner. Cells, however, could be preincubated with toxin at 15 degrees C, and the antitoxin was completely effective when added before the cells were warmed up. Finally, cells exposed to choleragen for less than 10 min at 37 degrees C accumulated cyclic AMP when shifted to 15 degrees C. Under optimum conditions at 37 degrees C, the minimum lag period for adenylate cyclase activation in these cells was 10 min. These findings suggest that the lag period for choleragen action represents a temperature-dependent transmembrane event, during which the toxin (or its active component) gains access to adenylate cyclase.