Stimulation of brain lipase activity by polyamines. Comparison with the effect of ACTH.

Polyamines, as well as ACTH, strongly stimulate at pH 5.75 triacylglycerol lipase (TAGL) activity from rat brain. Whether the activating potency is expressed in terms of molar concentration or amount of positive charges, polyarginine, polylysine, spermine and spermidine exhibit, in this order, decreasing potencies. By contrast to other lipases, heparin (25 micrograms/ml) inhibits brain TAGL. Polyarginine, polylysine and spermine reverse the heparin-dependent inhibition and further stimulate TAGL activity above basal values; spermidine is much less potent. In the presence of heparin, ACTH has the greatest stimulating effect, being 1.6-fold and 3.3-fold more potent than polyarginine and polylysine, respectively. Taken together, the data suggest that polybasic effectors modify the interaction of TAGL with its substrate, resulting in increased levels of TAGL activity. In the presence of heparin, the enzyme charge density is mandatory for determining the stimulation process. Such cationic interactions appear to be specific of brain TAGL and should be considered in assessing any direct neuro-hormonal role to ACTH or physiological polyamines in brain.