The turnover of cytoplasmic triacylglycerols in human fibroblasts involves two separate acyl chain length-dependent degradation pathways.

Cultured fibroblasts from patients affected with the genetic metabolic disorder named neutral lipid storage disease (NLSD) exhibit a dramatic accumulation of cytoplasmic triacylglycerols (Radom, J., Salvayre, R., Nègre, A., Maret, A., and Douste-Blazy, L. (1987) Eur. J. Biochem. 164, 703-708). We compared here the metabolism of radiolabeled short-, medium- and long-chain fatty acids in these cells. Short/medium-chain fatty acids (C4-C10) were incorporated into polar lipids (60-80%) and triacylglycerols (20-40%) at a lower rate (5-10 times lower) than long-chain fatty acids. Pulse-chase experiments allowed to evaluate the degradation rate of cytoplasmic triacylglycerols in normal and NLSD fibroblasts and to discriminate between two catabolic pathways of cytoplasmic triacylglycerols. Short/medium-chain (C4-C10) triacylglycerols were degraded at a normal rate in NLSD fibroblasts, whereas long-chain (C12 and longer) triacylglycerols remained undegraded. These data are confirmed by mass analysis. The use of diethylparanitrophenyl phosphate (E600) and parachloromercuribenzoate (PCMB) inhibitors allows to discriminate between the two triacylglycerol degradation pathways. E600 inhibited selectively the in situ degradation of short/medium-chain triacylglycerols without inhibition of the degradation of long-chain triacylglycerols, whereas PCMB inhibited selectively the in situ hydrolysis of long-chain triacylglycerols without affecting the degradation of long-chain triacylglycerols. This was correlated with the in vitro properties of cellular triacylglycerol-hydrolyzing enzymes characterized by their substrate specificity and their susceptibility to inhibitors; the neutral lipase specific to long-chain triacylglycerols is inhibited by PCMB, but not by E600, in contrast to short/medium-chain lipase, which is inhibited by E600 but not by PCMB. The data of in vitro and in situ experiments suggest the existence in fibroblasts of two separate acyl chain length-dependent pathways involved in the degradation of cytoplasmic triacylglycerols, one mediated by a neutral long-chain lipase and another one mediated by a short/medium-chain lipase.