In pancreatic acinar cells, the epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor interacts with both cholera toxin- and pertussis toxin (PTX)-sensitive G proteins. In the present study, isolated rat pancreatic acini were used to investigate the effect of EGF on basal and secretagogue-induced adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP) production and amylase release. EGF increased cAMP production and amylase release in pancreatic acini. However, cAMP accumulation and amylase release elicited by either vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) or forskolin were inhibited by EGF (17 nM). EGF inhibited the VIP-induced cAMP production and amylase release with a half-maximal effective concentration of 3 and 2 nM, respectively. EGF had no effect on the N6,2'-O-dibutyryladenosine-3',5'-monophosphate-stimulated amylase release, suggesting that the inhibitory effect of EGF on the VIP- and forskolin-induced cAMP production is due to inhibition of adenylyl cyclase. PTX pretreatment of the acini led to an increase of the basal, EGF-, and VIP-stimulated cAMP accumulation and amylase release, indicating that PTX-sensitive G proteins exert tonic inhibition of adenylyl cyclase even in the absence of agonist. In PTX-pretreated acini, the inhibitory effect of EGF on the VIP-induced cAMP production and amylase release was abolished. In conclusion, these results suggest that EGF inhibits secretagogue-induced cAMP production via activation of PTX-sensitive G proteins in rat pancreatic acini, whereas EGF-induced cAMP production and amylase release occurs via a PTX-insensitive pathway.