J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 260, Issue 10, 5879-5882, May, 1985
Activation of myocardial neutral triglyceride lipase and neutral cholesterol esterase by cAMP-dependent protein kinase
DI Goldberg and JC Khoo
Lipolysis of intracellular triglycerides in the heart has been shown to be
regulated by hormones. However, activation of myocardial triglyceride
lipase in a cell-free system has not been directly demonstrated. In the
present studies, initial attempts to demonstrate cAMP-dependent activation
of triglyceride lipase using the 1,000 X g supernatant fraction (S1) of
mouse heart homogenate were unsuccessful, presumably due to the masking
effects of high levels of lipoprotein lipase activity even when assayed at
pH 7.4 and in the absence of apolipoprotein C-II. Myocardial lipoprotein
lipase in the 40,000 X g supernatant fraction was then removed by
heparin-Sepharose affinity chromatography. The lipoprotein lipase-free
fractions were shown to contain neutral triglyceride lipase and neutral
cholesterol esterase of about equal activities. The triglyceride lipase and
cholesterol esterase activities fell progressively during preincubation in
the presence of 5 mM Mg2+. Additions of cAMP and ATP resulted in 40-70%
activation of both triglyceride lipase and cholesterol esterase. The
activation was blocked by protein kinase inhibitor and was restored by the
addition of exogenous cAMP-dependent protein kinase. Since lipoprotein
lipase has no activity toward cholesteryl oleate, activation of cholesterol
esterase in untreated S1 was readily demonstrable. Both triglyceride lipase
and cholesterol esterase activities were present in homogenates prepared
from isolated rat heart myocytes. We conclude that the myocardium contains
a hormone-sensitive lipase that is regulated in a fashion similar to that
of the adipose tissue enzyme.