Comparison of the phospholipase activity of bovine milk lipoprotein lipase against rat plasma very low density and high density lipoprotein.

The hydrolytic activity of a lipoprotein lipase from bovine milk against triacylglycerol and phosphatidylcholine of rat plasma very low density lipoprotein was determined and compared to that against phosphatidylcholine of high density lipoprotein. 85--90% of the triacylglycerol in very low density lipoprotein were hydrolyzed to fatty acids and 25--35% of the phosphatidylcholine to lysophosphatidylcholine. High density lipoprotein phosphatidylcholine was only minimally susceptible to the enzyme. Even with high amounts of enzyme and prolonged incubation periods, lysophosphatidylcholine generation did not exceed 2--4% of the original amounts of labeled phosphatidylcholine in the high density lipoprotein. We conclude that phospholipids in high density lipoprotein are not substrates for the phospholipase activity of this lipoprotein lipase. These observations suggest that factors other than the presence of apolipoprotein C-II and of glycerophosphatides are of importance for the activity of lipoprotein lipases.