Formation of lysophosphatidyl ethanolamines in cell fractions of rat liver

Hepatic membranolytic stability alteration by metalloporphins in rats

The mothers of experimental neonates were administered excess bilirubin for a month, and the neonates were suffering from hyperbilirubinemia. The studies were conducted on the effect of excess bilirubin and metalloporphyrins on plasma membrane and mitochondrial membrane. We have isolated, separated, and estimated phospholipids, and also assayed the activity of phospholipase A2 from whole liver and mitochondrial and microsomal fractions. Excess of bilirubin administration decreased the total phospholipid level and inhibited the phospholipase A2 activity. Cr-PP (chromium protoporphyrin) induces the phospholipase A2 activity which is inhibited by simultaneous bilirubin administration. However, Zn-PP (zinc protoporphyrin) and Mn-PP (manganese protoporphyrin) showed a reverse pattern.

Calcium and pH in anoxic and toxic injury

The critical events that lead to the transition from reversible to irreversible injury remain unclear. Studies are reviewed that have suggested that a rise in cytosolic free Ca2+ initiates plasma membrane bleb formation and a sequence of events that leads ultimately to cell death. In recent studies, we have measured changes in cytosolic free Ca2+, mitochondrial membrane potential, cytosolic pH, and cell surface blebbing in relation to the onset of irreversible injury and cell death following anoxic and toxic injury to single hepatocytes utilizing multiparameter digitized video microscopy (MDVM). MDVM is an emerging new technology that permits single living cells to be labeled with multiple probes whose fluorescence is responsive to specific cellular parameters of interest. Fluorescence images specific for each probe are collected over time, and then digitized and stored. Image analysis and processing then permits quantitation of the spatial distribution of the various parameters within the single living cells. Our results indicate the following: (1) formation of plasma membrane blebs accompanies all types of injury in hepatocytes; (2) cell death is a rapid event, initiated by rupture of a plasma membrane bleb, and is coincident with the onset of irreversible injury; (3) an increase of cytosolic free Ca2+ is not the stimulus for bleb formation or the final common pathway leading to cell death; (4) a decrease of mitochondrial membrane potential precedes loss of cell viability; (5) cytosolic pH falls by more than 1 pH unit during chemical hypoxia. This acidosis protects against the onset of cell death.

Lateral segregation of sterol and channel proteins in the mitochondrial outer membrane induced by phospholipase A2: evidence from negative-stain electron microscopy using filipin

The channel protein in the mitochondrial outer membrane of Neurospora crassa aggregates laterally into crystalline arrays by the action of phospholipase A2. When mitochondrial outer membranes are reacted with filipin and examined by negative-stain electron microscopy, filipin-sterol complexes are found everywhere on the membranes except on the crystalline channel arrays. This suggests that the channel-rich membrane domains may have a relatively low content of accessible sterol. It is proposed that in vitro segregation of protein and lipid membrane components by phospholipase A2 may reflect a mechanism by which the endogenous enzyme organizes the native mitochondrial membrane into functional domains.

Hydrolysis of exogenous substrates by mitochondrial phospholipase A2

Evidence is provided in this paper to indicate that hydrolysis of exogenously added phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylcholine by the membrane-bound phospholipase A2 from rat-liver mitochondria is preceded by association of the substrates with the membranes. Hydrolysis of phosphatidylethanolamine after preincubation of mitochondria and substrate is nearly independent of incubation volume, indicating that substrate and mitochondria are not independently diluted. The association is greatly enhanced in the presence of Ca2+, especially for phosphatidylethanolamine. Association can be measured after sucrose-gradient centrifugation of mitochondria preincubated with phosphatidylethanolamine and can be visualized by freeze-fracture electronmicroscopy, showing substrate clusters fused with mitochondria. The association provides an explanation for the hydrolysis of exogenous substrates by a membrane-associated phospholipase A2 as well as for the high preference for phosphatidylethanolamine degradation often observed in studies on membrane-bound phospholipases A. This preference is likely to result in part from the tendency of unsaturated phosphatidylethanolamines to adopt non-bilayer lipid phases allowing a more extensive association with biomembranes in the presence of Ca2+, and does not reflect enzyme specificity per se. This phenomenon should be kept in mind when determining the substrate specificity of membrane-bound phospholipases A by the use of exogenous substrates.

Regulatory aspects of rat liver mitochondrial phospholipase A2: effects of calcium ions and calmodulin

A comparative study was made of the metal ion requirement of rat liver mitochondrial phospholipase A2 in purified and membrane-associated forms. Membrane-bound enzyme was assayed using either exogenous or endogenous phosphatidylethanolamine. Although several divalent metal ions caused increased activity of the membrane-associated enzyme, only Ca2+ and Sr2+ activated the purified phospholipase A2. The activity in the presence of Sr2+ amounted to about 25% of that found with Ca2+. When the Ca2+ concentration was varied two activity plateaus were observed. The corresponding dissociation constants varied from 6 to 20 microM Ca2+ and from 1.4 to 12 mM Ca2+ for the high- and low-affinity binding sites, respectively, depending on the assay conditions and whether purified or membrane-bound enzyme was used. A kSr2+ of 60 microM was found for the high-affinity binding site. The effect of calmodulin and its antagonist trifluoperazine was also investigated using purified and membrane-associated enzyme. When membrane-bound enzyme was measured with exogenous phosphatidylethanolamine, small stimulations by calmodulin were found. However, these were not believed to indicate a specific role for calmodulin in the Ca2+ dependency of the phospholipase A2, since trifluoperazine did not lower the activity of the membrane-bound enzyme to levels below those found in the presence of Ca2+ alone. Membrane-bound enzyme in its action toward endogenous phosphatidylethanolamine was neither stimulated by calmodulin nor inhibited by trifluoperazine. Purified enzyme was also not stimulated by calmodulin, while trifluoperazine caused small stimulations, presumably due to interactions at the substrate level. These results indicate that calmodulin involvement in phospholipase A2 activation should not be generalized.

Effects of hypothermic perfusion of kidneys on tissue and mitochondrial phospholipids

The changes in the level of phospholipids in kidney tissue and isolated mitochondria from dog kidneys perfused hypothermically (6-8 degrees C) for 1, 3, and 5 days were compared. Following 1 day of perfusion there was no change in total tissue phosphatidylserine (PS), a 25% decrease in the level of phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), and a 16% decrease in phosphatidylcholine (PC). No further decrease was observed with longer perfusion times. In fact, an increase in the level of PE occurred between the third and fifth days. Mitochondria isolated from perfused kidneys also showed a slight decrease in PE and PC following 1 day, no further change at 3 days, and an increase at Day 5. The loss of tissue phospholipids does not appear related to the viability of perfused kidneys. The major loss occurs within 1 day of perfusion and kidneys perfused up to 3 days are fully viable. Five-day perfused kidneys are nonviable, but show no greater loss of phospholipids than the viable 1- or 3-day perfused kidneys.

Purification of rat liver mitochondrial phospholipase A2

Rat liver mitochondrial phospholipase A2 was purified to near homogeneity by a combination of gel-filtration, hydroxyapatite and Matrex gel Blue A column chromatography. The absolute positional specificity of the enzyme for acylester bonds at the sn-2-position was established in experiments with 1-[9,10-3H2]palmitoyl-2-[1-14C]linoleoylphosphatidylethanolamine. Molecular weight estimations revealed Mr values of 15000 by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and of 9700 gel by gel-filtration over Ultrogel AcA 54 columns. The enzyme is unaffected by diisopropylfluorophosphate and thiol reagents such as 5,5'-dithiobis(2-nitrobenzoic acid), N-ethylmaleimide and iodoacetamide, but is completely inhibited by the alkylating reagent p-bromophenacylbromide.

Abnormalities of erythrocyte stromal lipids in atresia of the intrahepatic bile ducts

Detailed analysis of plasma and erythrocytes lipid composition of patient with intrahepatic biliary atresia is presented. Abnormalities have been outlined and are characterized as following: (1) an increase of total cholesterol compounds and total phospholipids in serum; (2) an increase of free cholesterol and lecithin up to 50 per cent of total phosphatides in red cells; (3) the fatty-acids pattern isolated from total phospholipids of red cells shows a rise of palmitic and palmitoleic acids and a decrease of stearic and longer-chain fatty acids; (4) in PC and PE of red cells, there is an overall tendency for the degree of unsaturation of long-chain fatty acids to increase. In addition to these lipid changes, it was demonstrated by polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis that the composition of membrane proteins was normal. It is of particular interest to establish whether these abnormalities are either induced by complex metabolic pathways and exchange processes between the lipids of circulating erythrocytes and the altered lipids of serum environment or are the direct result of modified hepatic cellular or enzymatic function.

Changes in enzyme activities of glycerolipid metabolism of guinea-pig cerebral hemispheres during experimental hypoxia

Hypoxic treatment causes changes of some enzymatic activities involved in the glycerolipid metabolism in subcellular fractions of guinea pig cerebral hemispheres. The activity of lysophosphatidylcholine acyltransferase, choline phosphotransferase, glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase(s), as well as the activity of triacylglycerol lipase significantly decreased in the microsomes of cerebral hemispheres of animals intermittently exposed to hypoxic treatment for eighty hours. At the same time, a marked activation of microsomal and mitochondrial phospholipase A2 occurred. The changes of the above-mentioned enzymatic activities after the hypoxic treatment correlated well with the increase in the level of brain and blood free fatty acids. The changes also correlated with the decrease of labeled lipid precursors incorporated into lipids of the cerebral hemispheres, observed during oxygen insufficiency.

Occurrence and properties of phospholipases A1 of plasma membranes prepared from neuronal- and glial-enriched fractions of the rabbit cerebral cortex

Exogenously added glycerophosphatides, specifically radioactively labelled either in the 1 or in the 2 position, were used to investigate the occurrence and properties of phospholipase A1 in plasma membranes prepared from neuronal- and glial-enriched fractions of rabbit brain. Phospholipase A1 activity was maximal at pH values ranging between 8.0 and 9.0 for the plasma membranes of both cell types. The enzyme activity was most abundant in the microsomal fraction, with a neuronal/glial ratio of about 2. The plasma membranes displayed about half the enzymic activity of the microsomal fraction, whereas only small amounts of phospholipase A1 were present in the neuronal and glial mitochondria. Investigations on the substrate specificity showed a different pattern for the enzyme of neuronal and glial origin. The release of labelled fatty acids from phosphatidylcholine by the neuronal plasma membrane phospholipase A1 decreased with increasing degree of unsaturation of the fatty acids at the 1 position. The presence of plasmalogens and plasmalogen precursors in the incubation mixture appreciably inhibited the hydrolysis of the corresponding diacyl compounds.

Mitochondrial calcium transport and calcium-activated phospholipase in porcine malignant hyperthermia

The interaction of Ca2+ with mitochondria isolated from longissismus dorsi, a predominantly white skeletal muscle, of normal and malignant hyperthermia pigs was investigated using tightly-coupled preparations. Arrhenius plots of mitochondrial Ca2+ -stimulated respiration for succinate oxidation of malignant hyperthermia pigs showed a transition temperature (Tt) of 26.31 +/- 0.80 degrees C (n = 5), which was decreased by spermine to 15.41 +/- 0.69 degrees C (n = 3), a value very similar to that for normal pigs. No difference in either the Tt or in the activation energy (Ea) was observed between the two types of pigs when ADP was used instead of Ca2+. Mitochondria of malignant hyperthermia pigs were uncoupled at 40 degrees C by exogenous Ca2+ at 1221 +/- 301 (n = 9) nmol Ca2+ per mg proteinn during succinate oxidation and the uncoupled mitochondria showed large amplitude swelling. Both the Ca2+ -induced uncoupling and swelling were prevented by bovine serum albumin and by the phospholipase inhibitors, spermine and tetracaine. In contrast, mitochondria of normal pigs were still tightly coupled even after a total addition of 2313 +/- 287 (n = 5) nmol Ca2+ per mg protein and retained the original condensed configuration in the presence or absence of spermine and tetracaine. Mitochondria of malignant hyperthermia pigs contained significantly (P less than 0.001) higher quantities of endogenous Ca2+ and showed a significantly (P less than 0.001) faster FCCP-induced endogenous Ca2+ efflux rate than normal when monitored spectroscopically with murexide. No significant difference was observed in either the rate of exogenous Ca2+ uptake or in the extent of Ca2+ accumulated in the aerobic steady state during succinate oxidation between the two types of pigs. The rate of mitochondrial Ca2+ efflux of malignant hyperthermia pigs during anaerobiosis was about twice that of normal. Experimental evidence suggests that mitochondria from musculi longissimus dorsi of malignant hyperthermia pigs contained a Ca2+ -stimulated phospholipase A2 (EC 3.1.1.4, phosphatide 2-acylhydrolase), and that this enzyme if present in mitochondria of normal pigs is either latent or in very low concentration. The significance of the Ca2+ -stimulated phospholipase A2 and its association with the enhanced rate of glycolysis in porcine malignant hyperthermia syndrome and in the post-mortem formation of the pale, soft and exudative conditions observed in white skeletal muscles of malignant hyperthermia pigs is discussed.

The phospholipases A of epidermis

Phospholipases A have been characterized in fetal rat epidermis. Both a calcium dependent phospholipase A with pH optimum of 8.5 and a calcium independent enzyme with a pH optimum of 4.5 were found. Activity against both acyl groups of phosphatidyl choline were found for both enzymes and the findings suggested that the acid enzyme (pH 4.5) is primarily phospholipase A1. The specificity of the alkaline enzyme with respect to acyl groups could not be determined due to the marked hydrolysis of lysophosphatidyl choline. Lysophospholipase activity had similar pH and calcium requirements as the alkaline phospholipase A and the 2 activities could not be dissociated in these experiments. The acid phospholipase was localized primarily in a fragile large particle fraction while the alkaline enzyme was present in various subcellular fractions and most active in the soluble supernatant. These findings demonstrate that epidermal phospholipases A are similar to those in other mammalian tissues. The presence of both acid and alkaline enzymes ar various subcellular loci suggest that the enzymes may play important roles in many facets of epidermal membrane metabolism and in particular in the degradative events of keratinization.

Latency of microsomal hexose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity

Intact microsomes isolated from rat liver showed no hexose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity, but the enzyme was activated by Triton X-100, deoxycholate, NH4OH, glycine/NaOH, lysophosphatidylcholine, phospholipases A and C, pancreatic lipase and cholesterol esterase, and also by sonic treatment. The enzyme activation by deoxycholate, NH4OH and sonic treatments was solely due to solubilization, while that by phospholipase A appeared to be due to the detergent action of the hydrolysis products. On the other hand, the primary effects of phospholipase C, cholesterol esterase and pancreatic lipase might be accounted for by the partial removal of membrane lipids. The results of washing and trypsin digestion experiments suggested that hexose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase is one of the most firmly bound enzymes among the microsomal proteins. The catalytic properties were the same in the solubilized and the membrane-bound, activated enzymes. Feeding the rats on a high carbohydrate diet altered the extent of enzyme activation by sonication and phospholipase C treatment, suggesting that the microsomal membrane would actually undergo changes in the conformation and/or chemical composition under certain circumstances.

Properties of microsomal phospholipases in rat liver and hepatoma

Phospholipase A1, A2 and lysophospholipase activities in microsomes of Novikoff hepatoma host rat liver and regenerating rat liver were compared using 1-[9', 10'-3H2]palmitoyl-2-[1'-14C] linoleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine, 1-[1' -3H-]hexadecyl-2-acyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine, and 1-[9', 10'-3H2]palmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine as substrates. 1. Microsomes of all three tissues showed two pH dependent peaks of hydrolytic activity, one at pH 7.5 and another at pH 9.5. 2. Phospholipid hydrolytic activity in microsomes from host liver and regenerating liver require Ca2+ for hydrolysis at pH 9.5, but not at pH 7.5. Hepatoma microsomes require Ca2+ for activity at both pH values. 3. Phospholipase A1 activity, stimulated by addition of Triton X-100 to the incubation mixtures, was detected in both host liver and regenerating liver microsomes. There was no evidence of phospholipase A1 activity in hepatoma microsomes. 4. Phospholipase A2 was detected in microsomes of all three tissues using 1-[1'-3H] hexadecyl-2-acyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine as a substrate. The activity required calcium and was inhibited by Triton X-100. 5. Lysophospholipase activity was evident in the microsomes from all three tissues. The activity was inhibited by both Ca2+ and Triton X-100. 6. Differences were also detected between host liver and hepatoma microsomal phospholipid hydrolase activities with respect to the effect of increasing protein concentration, apparent Michaelis-Menten constants, and time course of the reaction.

Work in progress. Occurence of phospholipase A1 and A2 in human decidua

Phospholipase A2, an enzyme which may regulate the formation of polyunsaturated fatty acids utilized for prostaglandin synthesis, was found to have significant higher activity in decidual than in myometrial tissue. The major part of phospholipase A2 in the decidua had an acid pH optimum, which indicates that most of the enzyme is stored in the lysosomes of this tissue. These findings, together with previous observations, lend further support to the view that lysosomal phospholipase A2 released within decidual cells might be a trigger of abortion and parturition.