Purification of a lysophospholipase from bovine brain that selectively deacylates arachidonoyl-substituted lysophosphatidylcholine.

A high activity lysophospholipase A (lysoPLA) was purified from the soluble fraction of bovine brain. The separation included sequential DEAE-Sephacel, phenyl-Sepharose FF, heparin-Sepharose CL-6B, and Q-Sepharose FF column chromatography. Mono Q, Sephacryl S300HR, and hydroxylapatite column chromatography in the presence of the detergent CHAPS (3-[(3-cholamidopropyl)-dimethylammonio]-1-propanesulfonate) and glycerol further purified the activity to 17,000-fold. The enzyme was purified to homogeneity by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis using nondenaturing conditions. The pure enzyme migrated as a single polypeptide of 95 kDa mass by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and deacylated arachidonoyl-lysophosphatidylcholine (ara-lysoPC) at rate of 70 micromol/(min mg). The enzyme showed selectivity for arachidonoyl-substituted lysoPC, since palmitoyl-lysoPC was deacylated at a much lower rate (7 micromol/(min mg)). LysoPLA activity was maximal at pH 7.4-8.0 and was increased 1.3-fold by MgCl2 (5 mM). By including MgCl2, however, the range of optimal activity was expanded to pH values up to 9.0. The 95-kDa protein also deacylated arachidonoyl groups from 1-O-hexadecyl-2-arachidonoyl-PC (PLA2 activity) at a rate of 15 micromol/(min mg). Moreover, the deacylation of arachidonoyl groups from diacylPC was greatly increased by including purified bovine brain PLA1 in the reaction mixture. Thus, the same 95-kDa polypeptide catalyzed both lysoPLA and PLA2 activities, but the rate of arachidonoyl group deacylation was increased by prior sn-1 deacylation. Finally, the 95-kDa polypeptide cross-reacted with antibodies raised against a human recombinant cPLA2, implying that the 95-kDa protein is structurally similar to cPLA2. Additionally, these data suggest that the combined actions of PLA1 and the 95-kDa protein generate significant amounts of free arachidonic acid in the brain.