Changes in hormone responsiveness and cyclic AMP metabolism in rat hepatocytes during primary culture and effects of supplementing the medium with insulin and dexamethasone

Primary monolayer cultures of rat hepatocytes were used for studies of long‐term and acute effects of hormones on the cyclic AMP system. When hepatocyte lysates were assayed at various times after plating of the cells three major changes in the metabolism of cyclic AMP and its regulation were observed: Glucagon‐sensitive adenylate cyclase activity gradually declined in culture. In contrast, catecholamine‐sensitive activity, being very low in normal adult male rat liver and freshly isolated hepatocytes, showed a strong and rapid increase after seeding of the cells. Concomitantly, there was an early elevation (peak ∼ 6 h) and a subsequent decrease in activity of both high‐Km, and low‐Km cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase. These enzymic changes probably explained the finding that in intact cultured cells the cyclic AMP response to glucagon was diminished for 2–24 h after seeding, followed by an increase in the responsiveness to glucagon as well as to adrenergic agents up to 48 h of culture. Supplementation of the culture media with dexamethasone and/or insulin influenced the formation and breakdown of cyclic AMP in the hepatocytes. Insulin added at the time of plating moderately increased the adenylate cyclase activity assayed at 48 h, while dexamethasone had no significant effect. In the presence of dexamethasone, insulin exerted a stronger, and dose‐dependent (1 pM– 1 μM), elevation of the adenylate cyclase activity in the lysates, particularly of the glucagon responsiveness. Thus, insulin plus dexamethasone counteracted the loss of glucagon‐sensitive adenylate cyclase activity occurring in vitro Kinetic plots of the cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase activity showed three affinity regions for the substrate. Of these, the two with high and intermediate substrate affinity (Km∼ 1 and ∼ 10 μM) were decreased in the dexamethasone‐treated cells. Insulin partly prevented this effect of dexamethasone. Accumulation of cyclic AMP in intact cells in response to glucagon or β‐adrenergic agents was strongly increased in cultures pretreated with dexamethasone. The results suggest that insulin and glucocorticoids modulate the effects of glucagon and epinephrine on hepatocytes by exerting long‐term influences on the cyclic AMP system.