Measurement of adenosine 3':5'-cyclic monophosphate by competitive binding to salt-dissociated protein kinase

An assay for cyclic AMP is described which takes advantage of the high affinity of the dissociated receptor moiety of cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase I for the nucleotide. The kinase is kept dissociated by salt (800 mM-NaCl/30mM-EDTA). In the presence of a simply prepared heat-stable protein fraction the binding reagent is stable for the time needed to reach equilibrium of binding. A simple procedure [precipitation with poly-(ethylene glycol) followed by DEAE-cellulose chromatography] is described for the separation of protein kinase I from other binding proteins for cyclic AMP in rabbit skeletal muscle. The sensitivity, precision, reproducibility and specificity of the assay compared favourably with those of other cyclic AMP assays. The main advantage of the present assay is its resistance towards non-specific interference from a number of salts, tissue-culture media and substances found in crude tissue extracts. The reliability of cyclic AMP measurement directly in crude tissue extracts was ensured by removal of the assayable cyclic AMP with cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase digestion or adsorption with antibody against cyclic AMP, by comparison with measurement in tissue extracts purified by chromatography on QAE-Sephadex or sequentially on Dowex 50, and aluminium oxide as well as by dilution and recovery experiments.