Effects of hormones, amino acids and specific inhibitors on rat heart heparin-releasable lipoprotein lipase and tissue neutral lipase activities during long-term perfusion.

Rat hearts were perfused for long periods in the presence of 14C-labeled amino acids. From these hearts, postheparin-effluent and a tissue homogenate containing lipoprotein lipase and neutral lipase, respectively, were derived. Lipolytic activity and 14C-labeled protein in both preparations were characterized by affinity chromatography, immunoprecipitation and SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Lipase activity and 14C-labeled protein co-eluted from heparin-Sepharose 4B at 1.2 M NaCl and were inhibited and precipitated by preincubation with anti-lipoprotein lipase gamma-globulins. Gel electrophoresis of both preparations showed the presence of 14C-labeled protein with a molecular weight of 35 000. These data strongly suggest similarity between lipoprotein lipase and neutral lipase and their possible precursor-product relationship and indicate that during perfusion continuous synthesis, secretion and vascular binding of lipase molecules occur. Cycloheximide perfusion induced a dramatic decrease of lipoprotein lipase and neutral lipase activity, indicating a half-life of less than 90 min for both enzymes. Tunicamycin present during perfusion also induced a drop in lipoprotein lipase and tissue neutral lipase activity, indicating that glycosylation is necessary for secretion of lipoprotein lipase. Long-term perfusion of rat hearts in the presence of norepinephrine, glucagon or tyrosine leads to reciprocal alterations in lipoprotein lipase and neutral lipase activities, i.e., lipoprotein lipase activity increased and neutral lipase activity decreased, whereas total lipase activity (lipoprotein lipase + neutral lipase) remained unaltered. During perfusion in the presence of insulin, no net change in lipase activities was observed. Also, insulin did not affect the glucagon-induced inverse effects on either lipase activity. The reciprocal changes in lipase activities occurring during norepinephrine perfusion were hampered by colchicine and propranolol, pointing towards beta-receptor and microtubular mediation of tissue lipase processing and endothelial binding. Our data suggest that the tissue flux and vascular binding of lipase protein may be important sites of hormonal regulation of lipoprotein lipase homeostasis.