Phosphatidylcholine and triacylglycerol hydrolysis in HDL as induced by hepatic lipase: modulation of the phospholipase activity by changes in the particle surface or in the lipid core.

(1) Human HDL2 (d 1.063-1.125) and HDL3 (d 1.125-1.210), labelled with 2-[14C]oleoylphosphatidylcholine (PC), and with/without tri[3H]oleoylglycerol, were incubated with a partially purified human hepatic triacylglycerol lipase, at pH 8.5. PC hydrolysis was linear up to 90-120 min incubation and within a range of lipase activities, from 50 to 500 mIU/ml. At low degrees of lipolysis, the hydrolysis of triacylglycerol was linearly related to that of PC, but the relative degradation rate was 10-fold higher for the former, which was thus very rapidly consumed. HDL subfractions were then differentiated in terms of PC hydrolysis. Km values were 0.32 and 0.43 mM for HDL2 PC and HDL3 PC, respectively. The corresponding Vmax values expressed for 200 mIU/ml hepatic lipase activity were 41.0 nmol PC hydrolysed/ml per h (HDL2) and 28.6 nmol PC/ml per h (HDL3). (2) HDL3 were modified in the presence of VLDL by inducing triacylglycerol lipolysis in VLDL with a semi-purified human plasma or bovine milk lipoprotein lipase (LPL). Lipolysis-modified HDL3 (LIP-HDL3) were mostly enriched in free cholesterol (+80%, P less than 0.05) and to a lesser extent in triacylglycerol (+33%). As a consequence, 45% of the LIP-HDL3 was reisolated in the HDL2-density interval, and is referred to as light LIP-HDL3. LIP-HDL3 displayed a 65% increase in its reactivity towards hepatic lipase compared to control HDL3. The light LIP-HDL3 showed the lowest Km (0.19 mM PC) and the highest Vmax (69 nmol/ml per h) of all HDL tested. Coincubation of HDL3 with VLDL and albumin did not alter the further reactivity of HDL3 towards hepatic lipase. Cholesterol loading of HDL3 by celite-cholesterol dispersions also led to an enhanced reactivity, though less important than with the lipolysis modification. (3) HDL3 were also modified by coincubation with VLDL and the lecithin-cholesterol acyltransferase-inhibited plasma fraction of d greater than 1.21 g/ml, thus allowing the cholesteryl ester transfer reaction to occur. The modified HDL3 (CET-HDL3) were depleted in esterified cholesterol (-25%, P less than 0.05) and enriched in triacylglycerol (+70%, P less than 0.05). However, these particles behaved like control HDL3 in their reactivity towards hepatic triacylglycerol lipase. Thus, the hydrolysis of HDL PC mediated by hepatic triacylglycerol lipase appears to be influenced by changes occurring in the particle's surface rather than in the lipid core.