Characteristics of parathyroid hormone-specific cyclic changes of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity in the distal convoluted tubule of the guinea pig

The effect of parathyroid hormone (PTH) on the time course of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) activity in the distal convoluted tubule of a vitamin D-depleted guinea pig was determined using quantitative cytochemistry. G6PD activity decreased to the stable basal level 5 hrs after the initiation of the kidney segment maintenance cultures. The exposure of the tissues to 1 pg/ml of bovine PTH-(1-84) induced a cyclic change of G6PD activity, whereas neither carboxyl-terminal PTH nor other hormones tested showed such activity. After a 16-min exposure to bovine PTH-(1-84), the peak height of each cycle began to decrease until it disappeared at 34 min. The second exposure to this hormone at 46 min reinduced a similar cyclic change with a similar peak, indicating full viability of the cells. When bovine PTH-(1-84) was incubated with an excess amount of anti-bovine PTH antibody, the PTH-induced G6PD activity was completely abolished. Throughout a 14-min exposure to either human PTH-(1-84), human PTH-(1-34) or bovine PTH-(1-84), similar cyclic changes were observed with the constant peak height regardless of the dose (10(-16)-10(-12) M), although the cycle length shortened progressively as the dose was increased. They were equipotent on a molar basis between the concentrations of 10(-16) and 10(-13) M at 6 min of hormone exposure. The present data demonstrate that the cytochemical bioassay of PTH in a vitamin D-depleted animal is based on a dose-dependent difference in the time course of G6PD activity.