Pancreatic acini release ATP in response to various stimuli, including cholecystokinin octapeptide (CCK-8), as we show in the present study. There were indications that pancreatic juice also contains enzymes that could hydrolyze ATP during its passage through the ductal system. The aim of this study was to determine which ATP-degrading and possibly ATP-generating enzymes were present in pancreatic secretion. For this purpose, pancreatic juice was collected from anesthetized rats stimulated with infusion of CCK-8. Purine-converting activities in juice samples were assayed by TLC using either [ 3 H]AMP to adenosine. Along with highly active hydrolytic enzymes, there were also ATP-generating enzymes in pancreatic juice, adenylate kinase, and NDP kinase, capable of sequentially phosphorylating AMP via ADP to ATP. Activities of nonspecific phosphatases, nucleotide pyrophosphatase/ phosphodiesterases, and adenosine deaminase were negligible. Taken together, CCK-8 stimulation of pancreas causes release of both ATP-consuming and ATP-generating enzymes into pancreatic juice. This newly discovered richness of secreted enzymes underscores the importance of purine signaling between acini and pancreatic ducts lumen and implies regulation of the purine-converting enzymes release.Extracellular ATP and other purines mediate signaling between cells by means of neural transmission, paracrine, and autocrine effects. There are several important steps in this purinergic cascade including release of ATP, interaction with specific P2 purinergic receptors on the target cells, and not the least, ATP-degrading and -converting enzymes, which determine the balance between nucleotides and nucleosides and thus activation of P2 versus P1 (adenosine) receptors.Extracellular nucleotides can be hydrolyzed by a number of enzymes, such as ecto-nucleoside triphosphate diphosphohydrolases from the NTPDase 2 (CD39) family that hydrolyze nucleoside 5Ј-tri-and diphosphates (1). Ecto-nucleotide pyrophosphatase/phosphodiesterases (NPP) have broad substrate specificity and can convert ATP to AMP and PP i (2). Ecto-5Ј-nucleotidases (CD73) further hydrolyze AMP to adenosine, which can be taken up into the cell by specific Na ϩ -dependent nucleoside transporters or converted into inosine by adenosine deaminase. Ecto-alkaline phosphatases have broad action and dephosphorylate 5Ј-tri-, di-, and monophosphates. In addition to these degradation and inactivation pathways, there are also counteracting ATP-generating pathways, which include reverse nucleotide transphosphorylation by adenylate kinase and nucleoside diphosphate kinase (NDPK). These kinases, which play roles in intracellular signaling and in DNA and RNA synthesis among others, are also expressed on surfaces of different cell types and can contribute to nucleotide balance (3).In cardiovascular system and in respiratory epithelia, a number of enzymes handling nucleotides are well characterized. In human blood, soluble NPP, 5Ј-nucleotidase, and adenosine deaminase, as well as adenylate and NDP kinases, c...