Hepatic lipase acylates dolichol in the presence of a plasma cofactor in vitro.

Phosphatidylethanolamine:dolichol acyltransferase (PEDAT), an enzyme previously partially purified and characterized in rat liver [Sindelar, P., Chojnacki, T., & Valtersson, C. (1992) J. Biol. Chem. 267, 20594-20599], is here purified to homogeneity from a heparin perfusate of rat liver and is shown to be identical to hepatic lipase. However, in contrast to triglyceride hydrolysis by hepatic lipase, the PEDAT activity is strongly dependent on a heat-stable plasma cofactor. This cofactor stimulates the activity up to 15-fold and shifts the pH optimum for the reaction from 8.5 to 7.5. Upon gel filtration on Bio-Gel A-1.5, the factor is heterogeneously distributed, with a major peak at 220 kDa. The dolichol-acylating activity can also be detected in rat adrenals and ovaries, and evidence is presented that the PEDAT assay shows a higher degree of specificity for hepatic lipase than the standard assay with triolein-gum arabic emulsion in 1 M NaCl.