Cytochemical localization of adenylate cyclase activity in heart tissue with cerium

Adenylate cyclase (AC) activity showed a doses depending inactivation of the basal activity and of the sodium fluoride stimulation by cerium in homogenates of unfixed and fixed guinea pig hearts. The isoproterenol and guanine nucleotide stimulation was not more than two times of the basal activity in glutaraldehyde-prefixed heart homogenates in the presence of 2 mmol/l CeCl3. The inactivation of the AC (activity) by cerium was less than in the presence of lead. Test tube experiments showed no differences in the precipitation of imidodiphosphate in comparison with inorganic phosphate. The substrate AMP-PNP was not spontaneously hydrolysed by 2 mmol/l CeCl3. Ultrastructural analysis of cytochemical incubation of glutaraldehyde-fixed slices and small pieces of guinea pig heart tissue showed fine-amorphous precipitations of reaction products localized along the plasma membrane of the sarcolemma, the nexuses of the intercalated discs and the T-tubule membranes. No precipitates were found neither on the junctional nor on other SR membranes. Nonspecific coarse and clumped precipitates have been detected in the intercellular space on components of the basal membranes. It was not able to demonstrate cytochemically stimulation of AC by hormones or by sodium fluoride. The localization of the basal AC activity in heart tissue seems to be better with cerium as capture agent than with lead. However, differences in the localization of the AC activity in heart tissue were not observed.