Effect of Tolbutamide and Glyburide on cAMP-Dependent Protein Kinase Activity in Rat Liver Cytosol

The effect of sulfonylureas tolbutamide and glyburide on adenylate cyclase– and cAMP-dependent protein kinase (A-kinase) was examined in rat liver cytosol. Both tolbutamide and glyburide inhibited the A-kinase activity in a dose-dependent manner. Half-maximal inhibition was obtained at 10 mM with tolbutamide and at 0.2 mM with glyburide, indicating that glyburide was 50-fold as potent as tolbutamide. Neither tolbutamide nor glyburide affected [³H]cAMP binding to the protein kinase, but both inhibited the activity of catalytic units of the A-kinase. Lineweaver-Burk double-reciprocal plots revealed that the inhibitory effects of these drugs were noncompetitive with respect to the protein substrate histone, as well as to the phosphate-donor substrate ATP. Thus, tolbutamide and glyburide inhibited the A-kinase activity in rat liver cytosol, and it was suggested that, through the inhibition of A-kinase, the sulfonylureas would affect the carbohydrate metabolism in the liver. In fact, the relative potencies of these two drugs on A-kinase activity corresponded well with those of their reported antidiabetic effects.