• 1 January 1979
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 5  (4) , 289-302
Abstract
Direct effects of adenosine on adipocyte and hepatic adenylate cyclase were demonstrated in an assay system where adenosine is not generated. The substrate used, 2''-deoxy ATP may, on metabolism, only give rise to 2''-deoxyadenosine, which does not act at adenosine receptors. With a slight modification of existing assay techniques this assay system was used to detect a previously undiscovered adenosine receptor on rat liver plasma membranes, which is antagonized by methylxanthines and which stimulates adenylate cyclase activity in a GTP-dependent manner. The potent inhibitory effects of purine-modified adenosine analogs on fat cell adenylate cyclase are reproduced by adenosine in this assay system. An application of this approach to the study of adenylate cyclase simplifies detection of the role of adenosine and yields insights into the interaction between guanine nucleotides and hormones.