The effect of insulin on basal and hormone-induced elevations of cyclic AMP content in cultured human fibroblasts

Abstract

Studies were carried out on confluent cultures of human fibroblasts to explore the effect of insulin on basal and hormone-induced elevations of intracellular cyclic AMP content during short-term incubations in serum-free medium. Insulin tended to decrease basal levels of cyclic AMP but this was not statistically significant. Similarly, insulin was unable to block the elevations of intracellular cyclic AMP content induced by PGE1, epinephrine and glucagon. Paradoxically, when cells were preincubated with insulin, PGE1-stimulated cyclic AMP elevation was potentiated, possibly because insulin was conserving factors needed for a maximal PGE1 stimulus or retarding the leakage of cAMP itself. The results indicate that insulin has little or no direct effect on cyclic AMP metabolism in cultured human fibroblasts and is consistent with the known insensitivity of these cells to insulin for other parameters.