Hepatic lipase. Purification and characterization.

Hepatic lipase has been purified to homogeneity from rat liver homogenates. The purified enzyme exhibits a single band on SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The molecular size of the native hepatic lipase is 200 000, while on SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis the apparent minimum molecular weight of the enzyme is 53 000, suggesting that the active enzyme is composed of four subunits. The relationship between triacylglycerol, monoacylglycerol and phospholipid hydrolyzing activities of the purified rat liver enzyme was studied. All three activities had a pH optimum of 8.5. The maximal reaction rates obtained with triolein, monoolein and dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine were 55 000, 66 000 and 2600 mumol fatty acid/mg per h with apparent Michaelis constant (Km) values of 0.4, 0.25 and 1.0 mM, respectively. Hydrolysis of triolein and monoolein probably takes place at the same site on the enzyme molecule, since competitive inhibition between these two substrates was observed, and a similar loss of hydrolytic activity occurred in the presence of diisopropylfluorophosphate. Addition of apolipoproteins C-II and C-I had no effect on the hydrolytic activity of the enzyme with the three substrates tested. However, the triacylglycerol hydrolyzing activity was inhibited by the addition of apolipoprotein C-III. Monospecific antiserum to the pure hepatic lipase has been raised in a rabbit.

Intra- and extracellular forms of lipoprotein lipase in adipose tissue.

The location of lipoprotein lipase activity in rat adipose tissue was studied using intact epididymal fat pads, isolated adipocytes, and lipoprotein lipase activity secreted from adipocytes as enzyme sources. The enzyme activities of these preparations were characterized by gel filtration. The method used for isolation of adipocytes had been modified to minimize activation of lipoprotein lipase during the procedures. Extracts of intact adipose tissue separated into two major lipoprotein lipase activity peaks, designated "a" and "b", the "a" fraction representing about 30 (fasted rats) to 50% (fed rats) of the total enzyme activity. An intermediate fraction (designated "i") was frequently observed. Extracts of isolated adipocytes from fed rats contained about 35% and those from fasted rats about 65% of the lipoprotein lipase activity present in intact tissue. The "b" fraction constituted 80--97% of the adipocyte lipoprotein lipase activity. In contrast, the enzyme activity secreted from the adipocytes contained only the "a" and "i" fractions. These data implicate the existance of one intracellular form of lipoprotein lipase (corresponding to the "b" fraction), different from extracellular forms of the enzyme (corresponding to fractions "a" and "i"). A transformation of the intracellular to the extracellular forms appears to occur in conjunction with secretion of enzyme from the fat cell.

Regulation of lipoprotein lipase immunological study of adipose tissue.

An antibody to purified rat heart lipoprotein lipase was used to determine the relative specific activities of adipose tissue lipoprotein lipase from fed and fasted rats. The antibody was immobilized by coupling it to a Sepharose gel. This antibody bound approx. 80% of the lipoprotein lipase activity of extracts of rat adipose tissue. When the extracts were separated by gel chromatography into two lipase activity fractions (lipoprotein lipase "a" and lipoprotein lipase "b") and these fractions incubated with the antibody, only 10% of the lipoprotein lipase "a" activity was bound by the highest antibody concentration employed, whereas 93% of the lipoprotein lipase "b" was bound by the same amount of antibody. Increasing amounts of antibody incubated with extracts of adipose tissue of fed or fasted rats yielded similar titration curves. When a constant amount of antibody was incubated with increasing amounts of the adipose extracts, no significant difference was noted between extracts from fed and fasted animals. The data indicate that the high lipoprotein lipase activity of adipose tissue of fed rats, compared with that of rats fasted overnight, results from the presence of more lipoprotein lipase protein.

Antibodies to lipoprotein lipase. Application to perfused heart.

An antibody was prepared against purified rat heart lipoprotein lipase. 1. This antibody showed marked species specificity. It inhibited almost totally the lipoprotein lipase activity from all rat tissues examined (i.e., heart, adipose, postheparin plasma, and mammary gland), while having no effect on the activity of lipoprotein lipase partially purified from rabbit, guinea pig and bovine heart and from bovine milk. The antibody also had no effect on the hepatic lipase activity of rat postheparin plasma. 2. After antibody to rat heart lipoprotein lipase was recirculated for 5 min through isolated rat hearts, little or no lipoprotein lipase activity could be detected in the perfusate during 0-20 s of a subsequent non-recirculating perfusion with buffer containing 1 unit heparin/ml. 3. Following recirculation of antibody to lipoprotein lipase for 10 min and a non-recirculating perfusion with buffer for 2 min, the hearts no longer oxidized any significant amounts of 14C-labelled palmitate chylomicron triacylglycerol fatty acid to 14CO2 during a 15-min perfusion. The data give compelling evidence that the functional fraction of lipoprotein lipase in hearts is at the endothelial cell surface accessible to lipoprotein lipase antibody.

Purification and characterization of lipoprotein lipase from human heart.

Human heart lipoprotein lipase was purified by affinity chromatography on heparin-Sepharose 4B. When crude extracts of heart acetone powder were applied to columsn, about 40% of total lipase activity was bound to the gel and then eluted with 1.5 M NaCl. At this stage the eluted enzyme was purified 1900-fold. Disc gel electrophoresis yielded a single protein band corresponding with lipolytic activity. Minimum molecular weight of the protein was 60,000 as determined by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate. The purified enzyme was highly unstable; however, its activity could be partially stabilized at --20C by bovine serum albumin, glycerol, or ethylene glycol. The activity of the purified enzyme (i) had a pH optimum between 7.8 and 8.0; (ii) required serum for full enzymatic activity; apoC-II could be substituted for serum; (iii) was inhibited by by apoC-I in the presence of activated substrate; (iv) was markedly inhibited by NaCl; and (v) was stimulated by heparin.

Rat heart lipoprotein lipase.

Rat heart lipoprotein lipase was highly purified by affinity chromatography using heparin-Sepharose 4B. When extracts of acetone powder were applied to columns, lipase activity was firmly bound to the gel matrix and was later eluted with 1.5 M NaCl. At this stage the eluted enzyme was purified 1500-fold. Disc gel electrophoresis yielded a single protein band corresponding with the enzyme activity. The apparent molecular weight was 60,000. The purified enzyme was highly unstable; however, its activity could be partially stabilized by glycerol or ethylene glycol. In studying the purified enzyme we observed: (i) a cofactor in serum was required for full enzymatic activity; ApoLp-Glu could be substituted for this cofactor; (ii) ApoLp-Ser was inhibitory to lipase activity; (iii) NaCl and protamine sulfate also markedly inhibited the lipase activity; (iv) heparin stimulated the enzymatic activity.

Metabolic studies of adipose tissue in acute uremia.

The effect of acute uremia on lipoprotein lipase (LPL) activity in rat adipose tissue and on the response of the isolated adipocytes to insulin was assessed. LPL activity in adipose tissue and in adipocytes of the uremic rats was decreased compared with values in sham-operated controls. Also, the adipocytes from uremic rats released significantly less than control amounts of LPL. In contrast, glucose oxidation by adipocytes isolated from uremic rats was not different from controls, and there was no difference in insulin binding or in insulin-stimulated glucose oxidation in the two groups. Triglyceride injected into the uremic rats was cleared at about half the control rate. Thus, the specific reduction in LPL activity in adipose tissue may be responsible, at least in part, for the defective removal of triglyceride. However, it is unlikely that the reduced LPL is due to a generalized toxic effect of uremia on adipose tissue since no significant alteration in insulin binding and glucose oxidation was found.

Separation of molecular species of lipoprotein lipase from adipose tissue.

When NH(4)OH-NH(4)Cl extracts of adipose acetone powder were applied to agarose gel chromatography columns, two peaks of lipoprotein lipase were eluted. The first activity peak (LPL(a)) was eluted with an elution volume of a protein of molecular weight approximately five times that of the second (LPL(b)). Addition of heparin to the eluted fractions markedly stimulated activity of LPL(a), but suppressed that of LPL(b). Both lipases had the characteristics that distinguish lipoprotein lipase from other tissue lipases: a requirement for serum for substrate activation, inhibition by 1 m NaCl, and an alkaline pH optimum (pH 8.0). It is concluded that these fractions represent two species of lipoprotein lipase.

A simple lipase assay using trichloroacetic acid.

An extremely rapid and sensitive assay for lipoprotein lipase activity, suitable for routine determinations, is described. The substrate for the assay is emulsified [2-(3)H]glyceryl trioleate, activated by serum. The method is based on trichloroacetic acid precipitation of unreacted substrate and measurement of (3)H-labeled glycerol.

Hepatic triglyceride secretion in relation to lipogenesis and free fatty acid mobilization in fasted and glucose-refed rats.

Plasma triglyceride concentrations were significantly lowered by a single feeding of glucose to rats that had been fasted for 22 hr. Three feedings of glucose produced a similar effect. In the glucose-refed animals mobilization of free fatty acids from adipose tissue was impaired more rapidly than hepatic lipogenesis was restored from its low fasting level. These effects of glucose were shown by both a 50% fall in plasma free fatty acid concentration and an 84% decrease in free fatty acid release by isolated epididymal fat pads within 30 min after a single refeeding of glucose. Hepatic lipogenesis from either acetate-1-(14)C or glucose-U-(14)C was not restored even after glucose had been fed three times at hourly intervals. Triton-induced hypertriglyceridemia was used to measure the hepatic triglyceride secretory rate; it was found that glucose refeeding decreased this rate in all but one of several experiments. This decreased secretion rate was sufficient to account for the nearly complete disappearance of triglyceride in very low density lipoproteins (d < 1.019) that occurred within 1 hr after a single glucose intubation.

Relationship of lipoprotein lipase activity to triglyceride uptake in adipose tissue.

Fasted rats injected with actinomycin or fed glucose show increased lipoprotein lipase activity of epididymal adipose tissue. Data from the actinomycin-treated animals showed a direct correlation between the lipoprotein lipase activity and the uptake of lipoprotein triglyceride by the epididymal fat pad in vitro and in vivo. Data from the animals fed glucose confirmed these findings in vitro. These data strongly suggest that lipoprotein lipase plays a major role in triglyceride deposition in adipose tissue.

A rapid assay for lipoprotein lipase.

A rapid assay for lipoprotein lipase activity employing a (14)C-labeled substrate is described. The method is very sensitive and suitable for routine use.

Lipoprotein lipase: size of the functional unit determined by radiation inactivation.

Radiation inactivation was used to determine the functional molecular weight of lipoprotein lipase (LPL) in rat heart and adipose tissues. This technique reveals the size of the smallest unit required to carry out the enzyme function. Supernatant fractions of the tissue homogenates were exposed to high energy electrons at -135 degrees C. LPL activity showed a simple exponential decay in all samples tested. Because changes in nutritional state shift the distribution of LPL between the capillary endothelial and parenchymal cells within heart and adipose tissues, fasted and refed rats were used for the radiation studies. The functional molecular weight was calculated to be 127,000 +/- 15,000 (mean +/- SD) daltons for heart and adipose. Thus, the smallest unit required for enzyme function was the same in both of these tissues and did not vary with nutritional state. The data suggest that, compared with LPL monomer sizes reported in the range 55,000 to 72,000, this active unit constitutes a dimer.

Lipoprotein lipase activity in adipose tissue from obese human beings.

The activity of lipoprotein lipase (LPL) released from human adipose tissue was measured before and after an oral glucose load in obese (n = 8) and normal (n = 7) weight subjects. The enzymatic activity of LPL release from fat tissue by heparin rose significantly one hour after glucose in the normal subjects. There was no such rise in LPL in adipose tissue from obese subjects. Serum triglyceride, insulin and glycerol were higher in the obese than in the lean subjects.