Platelets of pseudohypoparathyroid patients: Evidence that distinct receptor-cyclase coupling proteins mediate stimulation and inhibition of adenylate cyclase

Abstract

Platelets of patients with the genetic disorder pseudohypoparathyroidism (PHP) were studied to test whether the nucleotide-binding proteins mediating stimulation of adenylate cyclase (terma Ns) are identical to those mediating inhibition of cyclase (termed Ni). Functional responses to hormones that work through stimulation of adenylate cyclase are blunted in PHP patients. The erythrocytes of many of these patients (PHP-Ia) have previously been shown to have decreased Ns activity whereas those of other PHP patients (PHP-Ib) have normal Ns activity. This decreased Ns activity (measured by the ability to restore adenylate cyclase activity to membranes prepared from S49 cyc- cells) also occurs in the platelets of PHP-Ia but not of PHP-Ib patients. Platelets from both groups of patients accumulate less cAMP in response to prostacyclin than do platelets from control subjects. In contrast to the decreased Ns function in patients with PHP-Ia, Ni function in platelets was found to be similar in these patients and control subjects in several types of experiments: epinephrine-mediated inhibition of prostacyclin-stimulated cAMP production in intact platelets; the affinity of platelet .alpha.2-adrenergic receptors for epinephrine, as determined by competition for [3H]yohimbine binding; the decrease in receptor affinity for epinephrine produced by Na+ and GTP; and the concentration dependence of GTP for decreasing the affinity of these receptors for epinephrine. Because Ni is expressed normally in platelets from patients that are genetically deficient in Ns, Ns and Ni are likely to be distinct gene products.