Kinetics of lipolysis of very low density lipoproteins by lipoprotein lipase. Importance of particle number and noncompetitive inhibition by particles with low triglyceride content.

Our objective was to identify the major compositional factor(s) of very low density lipoprotein which determines its properties as a substrate for lipoprotein lipase. Human very low density lipoprotein was fractionated by preparative electrophoresis. The apparent Km was significantly lower for pre-beta very low density lipoprotein compared with beta very low density lipoprotein when calculated on the basis of triglyceride concentration. When the triglyceride concentration was adjusted for the triglyceride/apolipoprotein B ratio, the apparent Km was not different among very low density lipoprotein fractions. This implied that very low density lipoprotein particle number was of primary importance. To test this hypothesis further, rabbit cholesterol-rich very low density lipoprotein and human intermediate density lipoprotein and low density lipoprotein, from a patient with hepatic lipase deficiency, were added to the incubations. Each of these fractions functioned as noncompetitive inhibitors of lipolysis. We speculate that the saturation of lipoprotein lipase by an excess number of particles is a characteristic of human hyperlipoproteinemias that predispose to coronary heart disease and that are commonly classified as familial combined hyperlipoproteinemia or hyperapobetalipoproteinemia.