In hepatocytes stimulated with 8-bromocAMP, insulin decreases the affinity of the cAMP-dependent protein kinase for cAMP, shifting the Ka without affecting the V.,, activity. This occurs under conditions where cyclic adenine nucleotide concentrations are unchanged. We report here that glycogenolysis stimulated by 8-(4-chlorophenylthio)-cAMP, an analog with 100 times tighter affinit than cAMP for the protein kinase regulatory subunit, was only slightly antagonized by insulin. The tight binding of this analog appears to overcome the protein kinase affinity change induced by insulin. The relative importance of the two intrachain cAMP binding sites of the cAMP-dependent protein kinase regulatory subunit was investigated by using analogs with relative selectivity for each site. Analogs exhibiting preferential binding to site 2Dwere far less sensitive to insulin antagonism than were analogs binding preferentially at site 1 and less well at site 2. No other property of these analogs, including the rate of hydrolysis by phosphodiesterase, the IC50 for phosphodiesterase, the Ka for protein kinase, or the type I versus type II kinase specificity, could account for the ability of insulin to antagonize glycogenolysis stimulated by these analogs. These data indicate that insulin may act to decrease the affinity of protein kinases for cAMP through a possible regulation of intrachain site 2 binding.Glucagon, by increasing intracellular cAMP levels, activates cAMP-dependent protein kinases. Its counterregulatory hormone, insulin, can antagonize these responses through several mechanisms (for a review, see ref. 1). Insulin stimulates hepatic cAMP phosphodiesterase to decrease cAMP concentrations (2, 3); however, cAMP destruction is not required to terminate the glucagon signal (4). Insulin inhibits hepatic cAMP-dependent protein kinase in the absence of any changes in cyclic adenine nucleotide concentrations (4-6). A similar inhibition ofprotein kinase activity has been observed in diaphragm (7) and skeletal muscle (8); however, the mechanism of this response has remained obscure.In recent years, many analogs of cAMP have been developed with differing specificities towards protein kinase (9, 10). Corbin and coworkers (11,12) have discovered that the regulatory subunit of the cAMP-dependent protein kinase contains two intrachain cAMP binding domains? termed site 1 and site 2, based on their sensitivity to various cAMP analogs. Both binding sites appear to be involved in protein kinase activation (13,14). The differing specificities of these cAMP analogs permit the examination of protein kinase regulation in intact cells. In perfused heart, insulin decreases[3H]cIMP binding, which is specific for intrachain site 2, suggesting the possible regulation of this binding site on protein kinase (15).Here we demonstrate that, in liver, insulin can decrease the affinity of cAMP-dependent protein kinase for cAMP and indicate a possible role for intrachain site 2 binding based on the specificity of insulin antagonism of several cAMP ...