A guanine nucleotide-binding protein mediates the inhibition of voltage-dependent calcium current by somatostatin in a pituitary cell line.

Somatostatin reduces voltage-dependent Ca2+ current (ICa) and intracellular free Ca2+ concentration in the AtT-20/D16-16 pituitary cell line. We tested whether guanine nucleotide-binding proteins (G or N proteins) are involved in the signal transduction mechanism between the somatostatin receptor and voltage-dependent Ca2+ channels. Treatment of the cells with pertussis toxin, which selectively ADP ribosylates the GTP binding proteins Gi and Go and suppresses the ability of Gi to couple inhibitory receptors to adenylate cyclase, abolished the action of somatostatin on both ICa and intracellular free Ca2+. Intracellular application of the nonhydrolyzable guanine nucleotide analog guanosine 5'-[gamma-thio]triphosphate (GTP[gamma S]), which irreversibly activates G proteins, changed the somatostatin effect on ICa from a reversible to an irreversible inhibition. Intracellular GTP[gamma S] alone caused a very slowly developing inhibition of ICa. When ICa was inhibited by GTP[gamma S] (alone or with somatostatin), it failed to respond to subsequent applications of somatostatin. The effect of GTP[gamma S] on the inhibition of ICa by somatostatin was not altered by the intracellular application of cAMP and 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine. The results suggest that a GTP-binding protein is directly involved in the cAMP-independent receptor-mediated inhibition of voltage-dependent Ca2+ channels.