Albumin modifies the metabolism of hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acids via 12-lipoxygenase in human platelets.

12-Lipoxygenase and cyclooxygenase 1 are the dominating enzymes that metabolize arachidonic acid in human platelets. In addition to the conversion of arachidonic acid to 12(S)-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid, 12-lipoxygenase can also utilize 5(S)-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid and 15(S)-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid to form 5(S), 12(S)-dihydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid and 14(R), 15(S)-dihydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid, respectively. Furthermore, 15(S)-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid works as an inhibitor for 12-lipoxygenase. In the present paper we have studied the influence of albumin on the in vitro metabolism of 5 - and 15 -hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acids, and 5,15 -dihydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid by the platelet 12-lipoxygenase. The presence of albumin reduced the formation of 5(S),12(S)- dihydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid from 5(S)-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid, however, it had no effect on the 12(S)-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid production from endogenous arachidonic acid. In contrast, when 15(S)-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid was incubated with activated platelets, the formation of 14(R), 15(S)- dihydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid was stimulated by the presence of albumin. Furthermore, albumin reduced the inhibitory action 15(S)-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid had on 12(S)-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid formation from endogenous arachidonic acid. However, addition of exogenous arachidonic acid (20 microm) to the incubations inverted the effects of albumin on the conversion of 15(S)-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid to 14(R),15(S)- dihydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid and the production of 12(S)-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid in these incubations. Based on the Scatchard equation, the estimates of the binding constants to albumin were 1.8 x 10(5) for 15 -HETE, 1.4 x 10(5) for 12-HETE, and 0.9 x 10(5) for 5 -HETE respectively. These results suggest an important role of albumin for the regulation of the availability of substrates for platelet 12-lipoxygenase.