Forskolin alters sensitivity of the cAMP-generating system to stimulatory as well as to inhibitory agonists. A study with intact human platelets and guinea pig myometrium.

1. In both the intact guinea pig myometrium and human platelets, cAMP accumulation was enhanced by prostaglandin I2 (prostacyclin, PGI2) and forskolin with potentiated responses in the simultaneous presence of both effectors. Under basal conditions, forskolin caused rises in platelet cAMP concentration through a single low-affinity interaction (Kapp = 90 microM) while in myometrium, activation involved both a low-affinity (Kapp = 10 microM) and a high-affinity (Kapp = 0.8 microM) component. The contribution of the high-affinity component could be reduced when endogenous PGI2 was decreased. In both tissues, the synergistic effect of forskolin in the presence of PGI2 was mediated by a single high-affinity interaction (Kapp = 0.3 microM). The data were consistent with a low-affinity interaction of the diterpene with the cyclase catalytic unit C generating the C...forskolin state and with a high-affinity interaction of the diterpene with the activated complex (stimulatory regulatory protein) and C generating the potentiated Gs-C...forskolin state. 2. Both norepinephrine in platelets and carbachol in the myometrium (via Gi, the inhibitory regulatory protein) inhibited PGI2-mediated cAMP accumulation (EC50 = 100 nM and 8 nM respectively). The persistently activated cAMP-generating system induced by cholera toxin in the myometrium was also susceptible to inhibition but the EC50 for carbachol was increased to 50 nM and the extent of inhibition was decreased. Forskolin-mediated effect in platelets was inhibited by norepinephrine as was the PGI2 response. By contrast, the synergistic state of the cyclase resisted the inhibitory action of norepinephrine and carbachol in platelets and myometrium respectively. In the myometrium, where the cAMP response due to forskolin alone partially involved some synergistic Gs-C ... forskolin species, carbachol at 50 microM elicited no more than 30% inhibition. Inhibition was partly improved (60% inhibition at 1 microM carbachol) when the contribution of the Gs-C species was decreased by lowering the concentration of local PGI2. Partial inhibition by norepinephrine was similarly observed in platelets under partial synergistic conditions. The data suggest that receptor-mediated inhibition of cAMP generation could be differentially expressed depending on the nature of the active species of the cyclase involved in the stimulatory responses.

A re-evaluated role for cyclic AMP in uterine relaxation. Differential effect of isoproterenol and forskolin.

Our previous observations suggested that beta adrenergic-mediated relaxation of the rat myometrium could not be ascribed solely to cyclic AMP. The present study examines the relationships between relaxation and cyclic AMP accumulation in the myometrium in response to isoproterenol, forskolin and the combination of both. The diterpene enhanced cyclic AMP generation and potentiated the rises in cyclic AMP due to isoproterenol and prostaglandin (PG) E2. Isoproterenol-induced relaxation of a carbachol-contracted myometrium was associated with modest increments in cyclic AMP (6-12 pmol/mg of protein) in contrast to forskolin whose relaxing effect could be expressed only when associated with large increases in cyclic AMP (80-180 pmol/mg of protein). PGE2, although elevating cyclic AMP to the same extent as isoproterenol, caused contractions which were antagonized by isoproterenol and forskolin, respectively, associated with low and high cyclic AMP concentrations. Both PGE2 and forskolin, by virtue of their stimulatory effect on cyclic AMP generation, enhanced the efficiency of isoproterenol to cause relaxation. Likewise, the greater efficacy of forskolin to relax a PGE2- as opposed to a carbachol-contracted myometrium, was ascribed to its potentiated cyclic AMP response when combined with PGE2. It is proposed that the beta adrenoceptor-linked relaxation results from the concerted effects of both a cyclic AMP-dependent (sensitive to low cyclic AMP) and a cyclic AMP-independent process; the latter is postulated to operate at the membrane level with an ultimate reduction in cytosolic Ca++. On the other hand, cyclic AMP, provided it reached a critical concentration essential to mediate intracellular Ca++ sequestration, would be the sole determinant for forskolin-elicited relaxation.

Forskolin modulates cyclic AMP generation in the rat myometrium. Interactions with isoproterenol and prostaglandins E2 and I2.

In the intact rat myometrium, forskolin stimulated cyclic AMP generation and markedly potentiated increases in cyclic AMP caused by isoproterenol, prostaglandin E2 and prostacyclin. The diterpene increased the maximal responses and lowered the EC50 for both isoproterenol- and prostaglandin-stimulated cyclic AMP accumulation. Forskolin did not modify the Ki for the beta-adrenergic antagonist propranolol. Activation of cyclic AMP generation by forskolin was biphasic with respect to concentration; the major response being mediated by a low affinity interaction (Kapp 28 microM) and a minor effect being due to an interaction with a high affinity site (Kapp 0.5 microM). By contrast, the synergistic effect of the diterpene with isoproterenol, prostaglandin E2 as well as with cholera toxin, involved a single component of high affinity (Kapp 0.5 to 2 microM), which was thus considered to be associated with the activated complex of the cyclase catalytic subunit and the guanine nucleotide regulatory protein. Forskolin could further partially maintain isoproterenol-mediated synergism in a beta-adrenergic desensitized tissue. In myometrial membrane preparations, forskolin stimulated adenylate cyclase activity but failed to potentiate isoproterenol- and prostaglandin E2-mediated activation.

Modulation of cyclic AMP content of the rat myometrium: desensitization to isoproterenol, PGE2 and prostacyclin.

Exposure of the oestrogen-dominated rat myometrium to either isoproterenol or PGE2 resulted in a rapid but transient accumulation of cyclic AMP, with a progressive loss of responsiveness to the corresponding agonist. Induction of refractoriness was a time- and dose-related phenomenon. In the earliest time, desensitization was agonist-specific but was followed, with continued exposure, by a cross desensitization between isoproterenol and PGE2 and vice versa. Differential time courses for development and reversal of specific and heterologous refractoriness indicate at least 2 different processes for the 2 phenomena, the non-specific type being possibly mediated by cyclic AMP. Exposure to isoproterenol or PGE2 also caused an attenuated cyclic AMP response to prostacyclin (PGI2). Kinetics for PGE2-induced desensitization to PGI2 were comparable to that of an agonist-specific refractoriness, indicating that PGE2 and PGI2 may share common receptor sites. PGF2 alpha, PGD2 and 6-keto PGF1 alpha, which contract the myometrium but are ineffective on adenylate-cyclase activity, did not promote cyclic AMP refractoriness to PGE2, PGI2 or isoproterenol. Isoproterenol also caused refractoriness to its own relaxing activity, whereas PGE2 did not affect isoproterenol-induced relaxation despite a marked attenuation of the beta-adrenergic response to cyclic AMP. These results provide further evidence for the non-exclusive role of cyclic AMP in mediating uterine relaxation.

Cyclic AMP binding to intracellular receptor proteins in rat myometrium. Effect of epinephrine and prostaglandin E1.

In estrogen-pretreated rat myometrium, the relaxing effect exerted by theophylline or epinephrine has been correlated with their ability to raise cyclic AMP levels (Vesin and Harbon, 1974). The present study demonstrates that such a correlation can be quantitatively extended to the degree of saturation of intracellular cyclic AMP receptors. The rise in cyclic AMP induced by theophylline and/or epinephrine in intact myometrial strips was accompanied by a decrease in the ability of the corresponding extracts to bind exogenous 3H-labeled cyclic AMP. Total intracellular cyclic AMP binding sites were not modified and averaged a value of 0.22 muM. Accurate estimation of intracellular receptor-cyclic AMP complex has been correlated with the corresponding level of cyclic AMP in the tissue, the apparent intracellular Kd for cyclic AMP has been evaluated at 450 nm. Stimulation of myometrial strips with prostaglandin E1 (PGE1) which has been shown previously to induce contractions, although elevating cyclic AMP levels, was accompanied by a parallel increase in the saturation of the endogenous receptor, in an identical manner to that found with epinephrine or theophylline. The postulated hypothesis for a compartmentalization of cyclic AMP, or an interference of PGE1 with the intracellular cyclic AMP binding equilibrium has not been verified. The cyclic AMP system cannot be considered as the exclusive mechanism regulating uterine relaxation.