Prolonged stimulation of beta-adrenergic receptors with catecholamines leads to desensitization of their ability to activate cAMP accumulation. However, little is known about the relationship between these changes and possible alterations in physiological responses. We have used isolated adipocytes prepared from NEDH rats harboring pheochromocytomas, a norepinephrine-secreting tumor, to address this question. As expected, there was a decrease in the ability of isoproterenol to maximally activate cAMP accumulation in adipocytes from rat harboring pheochromocytoma [323 +/- 107 vs. 707 +/- 145 pmol/10(5) cells.min (mean +/- SD) in controls]. This change was associated with an increase in the EC50 of isoproterenol for activation of cAMP-dependent protein kinase (5.8 X 10(-8) vs. 2.4 X 10(-8) M in controls) and a decrease in maximal activation of the kinase (38 +/- 16% vs. 77 +/- 14% in controls). For lipolysis there was a loss in sensitivity to isoproterenol but no change in maximal lipolytic rate in the adipocytes from rats harboring pheochromocytoma. For both groups there was a similar relationship between kinase activation and lipolysis; maximal lipolysis had already occurred for protein kinase-A activity ratios less than 30%. Therefore, the blunted cAMP response in adipocytes from rats harboring pheochromocytoma did not impair the maximal lipolytic rate. These results demonstrate that adipocytes can efficiently maintain maximal lipolysis in a desensitized state because of considerable reserve in the biochemical cascade leading to the lipolytic response. In addition, our findings demonstrate that there are no regulatory changes induced by prolonged exposure to catecholamines that are distal to cAMP accumulation.