Metabolism of homologous and heterologous lipoproteins by cultured rat and human skin fibroblasts.

Rat fibroblasts degraded human low density lipoprotein (LDL) very slowly, one-tenth to one-fortieth the rates observed in human fibroblasts. In rat cells, human LDL caused only very small increases in cell cholesterol content and acylCoA:cholesterol acyltransferase (ACAT) activity and caused only small decreases in beta-hydroxy-beta-methylglutaryl CoA (HMG CoA) reductase activity; in human cells, however, human LDL induced very large changes in all three of these parameters, as expected. The binding of human LDL to rat fibroblasts was not reduced by previous incubation with human LDL or with 25-hydroxycholesterol. Thus, in rat fibroblasts there appear to be few, if any, regulated high-affinity receptors that recognize human LDL. Rat LDL fractions (d 1.02-1.05 g/ml), in contrast, were degraded more rapidly than human LDL by rat fibroblasts, caused a significant increase in cell cholesterol content, an increase in ACAT activity, and a significant decrease in HMG CoA reductase activity. Moreover, the degradation of this rat LDL fraction by rat fibroblasts as a function of concentration was biphasic, i.e., there appeared to be a high-affinity component of degradation. Thus, it appears that rat fibroblasts do have a receptor for homologous lipoproteins. However, because both apoprotein B and apoprotein E are present in these rat lipoprotein fractions, the observed effects may relate to recognition of either or both of these apoproteins. The metabolism and metabolic effects of the conventionally defined high density lipoprotein (HDL) fraction of the rat by rat or human fibroblasts resembled those of human LDL in human fibroblasts. It is suggested that rat HDL may, because of its apo E content and higher concentration in rat plasma relative to that of LDL, play an important role in cholesterol homeostasis in vivo.