The effects of carbachol on catecholamine secretion and [32P]Pi incorporation into phospholipids was studied in perfused bovine adrenal medulla. After a labelling period, the gland was stimulated with carbachol in the absence of 32P. Subcellular fractions were then prepared from the medulla. Carbachol roughly halved the specific radioactivities of phosphatidylinositol and phosphatidate in microsomal, chromaffin-granule, mitochondrial and plasma-membrane fractions. With Ca2+-free perfusion medium, catecholamine secretion was abolished but the phospholipid changes remained. Stimulation of secretion by KCl was not accompanied by phospholipid changes. The results are not consistent with the theory relating phosphatidylinositol hydrolysis and Ca2+ gating.
