The influence of N-ethylmaleimide and trypsin was studied on stimulatory and inhibitory regulations of the hamster adipocyte adenylate cyclase. Treatment of intact adipocytes or adipocyte ghosts with N-ethylmaleimide decreased basal and forskolin-stimulated adenylate cyclase activities. In the pretreated membrane preparations, inhibition of the enzyme by GTP and by stable GTP analogues was abolished. Concomitantly, activation of the adenylate cyclase by NaCl and its inhibition by the antilipolytic agents, prostaglandin E1 and nicotinic acid, were obliterated. In contrast, adenylate cyclase stimulation by ACTH and stable GTP analogues was not impaired but rather increased. Similarly, the NaCl-induced attenuation of the ACTH-stimulated enzyme activity was increased by the N-ethylmaleimide treatment. Limited proteolysis of hamster adipocyte ghosts with trypsin also obliterated GTP and prostaglandin E1-induced inhibitions and NaCl-induced activation of the adenylate cyclase. In contrast, adenylate cyclase activity stimulated by isoproterenol was increased after trypsin treatment. The data suggest that the activity of the adenylate cyclase is regulated via two distinct guanine nucleotide sites and that treatment with N-ethylmaleimide and limited proteolysis with trypsin functionally eliminates the regulatory site mediating adenylate cyclase inhibition, leading to a state where the enzyme activity is regulated only via the stimulatory site. The differential effects of these treatments on NaCl-induced activation and attenuation of the adenylate cyclase suggest that sodium acts on both regulatory sites in an inhibitory manner, and that by the functional elimination of the inhibitory site, only the sodium-induced attenuation of the adenylate cyclase via the stimulatory site is observed.