We have observed that ioprost, a prostacyclin analog, causes the translocation of a 23-kDa protein from the membrane to the cytosol of human platelets. This 23-kDa protein is recognized by a G.. (a subunit ofstimulatory guanine nucleotide binding regulatory protein) antiserum but is not ADP-ribosylated by cholera toxin. The translocation of the G,.-related protein might be an important part of the complex chain of events resulting in agonist-induced desensitization.Iloprost is a stable prostacyclin analog that stimulates platelet adenylyl cyclase and inhibits platelet responses (1). This inhibition is thought to result from increased levels of cyclic AMP (2) but the precise molecular mechanism of the inhibition is not understood. Prolonged treatment of platelets with iloprost decreases the cholera toxin-induced ADP-ribosylation of the a subunit of the stimulatory guanine nucleotide binding regulatory protein (Gs,,,) (1,3). Iloprost also decreases cholera toxin-induced ADP-ribosylation of a cytosolic 44-kDa protein (3).We wanted to know if the decrease of cholera toxininduced ADP-ribosylation of G,, was due to a loss of Gsa from platelet membranes. To investigate this, we first used two Gsa antibodies that were raised against synthetic peptides (4, 5). Antiserum 584 recognizes the peptide Thr-Pro-Glu-Pro-GlyGlu-Asp-Pro-Arg-Val-Thr-Arg-Ala-Lys-Tyr, which corresponds to residues 325-339 of the carboxyl-terminal region of Gsa. Antiserum A-572 recognizes the peptide Lys-Gln-LeuGln-Lys-Asp-Lys-Gln-Val-Tyr-Arg-Ala-Thr-His-Arg, which corresponds to residues 28-42 in the amino-terminal region of Gs,. In previous studies using immunoblot techniques, we showed that when platelets were incubated with iloprost under conditions in which cholera toxin-induced ADPribosylation was decreased, there was no loss of Gs, from the membrane (6). We now show that a 23-kDa peptide that is recognized by antiserum 584, but not by antiserum A-572, is lost from the membrane during treatment with iloprost and is recovered in the platelet cytosol.EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES Materials. Affinity-purified goat antibody to rabbit IgG [F(ab')2 fragment] labeled with 125I was from NEN. Gsa 584 and Gs, A-572 antisera were kindly provided by Susanne Mumby and Alfred Gilman (University of Texas, Dallas). AS7 antiserum was provided by Allen Spiegel (National Institutes of Health) and iloprost was a gift from ClausSteffen Sturzebecher (Schering).Preparation of Platelets. Platelet membranes were prepared as described (1, 3). Briefly, platelets from 5 ml of platelet-rich plasma were disrupted in 5 ml of 5 mM Tris HCI buffer (pH 7.4) containing 0.25 mM EDTA, using a Dounce homogenizer. The membranes and supernatant were separated after centrifugation at 100,000 x g for 40 min, and the membrane pellet was washed twice by resuspension in 5 ml of the same Tris-HCl/EDTA buffer. The washes were discarded. The pellet was finally resuspended in 200 ,l of 50 mM Tris HCl buffer (pH 7.4) containing 0.25 mM EDTA.[a-32P]ADP-Ribosylation of Proteins by Cholera ...