Properties of cytosolic proteins that confer vasoactive intestinal polypeptide-sensitivity to rat brain adenylate...

Rat brain cortex, caudate nucleus and cerebellum contain one or more factors that confer Vasoactive Intestinal Polypeptide (VIP)-, dopamine (DA)- and norepinephrine (NE)-sensitivity to adenylate cyclase in the absence of added GTP. These factors also stimulate the basal activity of the enzyme. The activity is found in a 100 000 X g supernatant; has an apparent molecular weight greater than 450 000 daltons; is inactivated by pronase, alkaline phosphatase and ammonium sulphate, and partially degraded by trypsin; and is stable to heat and acidic treatment. The effect of the factors is additive with that of guanosine-5'-triphosphate (GTP), and is not abolished by guanosine 5'-0-(2-thiodiphosphate) (GDP-beta-S). These results suggest that stimulation of adenylate cyclase by VIP, and most likely by DA and NE, can be modulated by soluble proteins.