Somatocrinin receptor coupled with cAMP-dependent protein kinase on anterior pituitary granules

The molecular mechanism of growth hormone release by synthetic somatocrinin was investigated on purified hog anterior pituitary secretory granules; the granules were found to contain a cAMP-dependent protein kinase that catalyzed [gamma-32P]-ATP histone phosphorylation with maximal rates ranging from 1 to 5 nmol of Pi incorporated per mg of protein per 20 min. The activity of this enzyme was further stimulated by somatocrinin. Stimulation was observed at concentrations as low as 0.3 pM, and the half-maximal effect was obtained with 35 +/- 8 pM (n = 4). Michaelis-Menten analysis of phosphorylation kinetics suggested that the peptide did not change significantly the reaction's Vmax, but produced a dramatic increase in enzyme affinity for cAMP: the apparent Km for the nucleotide decreased from 400 X 10(-9) M under unstimulated conditions to 15 X 10(-9) M in the presence of 100 pM somatocrinin. Furthermore, a Hill plot of concentration-dependence curve indicated the existence of negative cooperativity. At the concentration of 35 pM, the less potent analogs of somatocrinin [designated hpGRF-44 to indicate source (human pancreas, hp), activity (growth hormone-releasing factor, GRF), and amino acid composition], hpGRF-(1-37) and [Phe1]hpGRF-(1-40) had 20% and 7%, respectively, of the effect of somatocrinin. The biologically inactive analog hpGRF-(2-40) had no evident effect at concentrations up to 0.1 microM. Therefore, we suggest that somatocrinin stimulation of growth hormone release involves activation of exocytosis through a phosphorylation mechanism mediated by a granular receptor coupled with a cAMP-dependent protein kinase.