Kinetics of proteoheparan sulfate synthesis, secretion, endocytosis, and catabolism by a hepatocyte cell line.

The metabolism of heparan sulfate proteoglycan was studied in monolayer cultures of a rat hepatocyte cell line. Late log cells were labeled with 35SO4(2-) or [3H] glucosamine, and labeled heparan sulfate, measured as nitrous acid-susceptible product, was assayed in the culture medium, the pericellular matrix, and the intracellular pools. Heparan sulfate in the culture medium and the intracellular pools increased linearly with time, while that in the matrix reached a steady-state level after a 10-h labeling period. When pulse-labeled cells were incubated in unlabeled medium, a small fraction of the intracellular pool was released rapidly into the culture medium while the matrix heparan sulfate was taken up by the cells, and the resulting intracellular pool was rapidly catabolized. The structures of the heparan sulfate chains in the three pools were very similar. Both the culture medium pool and the cell-associated fraction of heparan sulfate contained proteoheparan sulfate plus a polydisperse mixture of heparan chains which were attached to little, if any, protein. Pulse-chase data suggested that the free heparan sulfate chains were formed as a result of catabolism of the proteoglycan. When NH4Cl, added to inhibit lysosomal function, was present during either a labeling period or a chase period, the total catabolism of the heparan sulfate chains to monosaccharides plus free SO2-4 was blocked, but the conversion of the proteoglycan to free heparan sulfate chains continued at a reduced rate.