Species differences in substrate specificity of lipoprotein lipase purified from chickens and rats

Kinetic parameters of chicken and rat lipoprotein lipase (LPL) were determined in the incubation in vitro with various monoacid triacylglycerol emulsion and plasma lipoproteins. In rat- and chicken-LPL there is an inverse relationship between the hydrolytic rate by both LPL and the increased acyl-chain unsaturation of monoacid triacylglycerol; C18:1>C18:2>C18:3. The rat LPL catalyzed hydrolysis of saturated monoacid triaclyglycerol increased with an increase of chain length as C16>C14>C12, whereas in chicken LPL hydrolytic rate of C12 was higher than C14 and C16 triaclyglycerol. Vmax of rat- and chicken-LPL for chylomicron and VLDL were higher but apparent Km for those were lower than other lipoproteins. In chicken, Vmax and apparent Km of LPL for VLDL were almost the same as those for chylomicron, whereas in rat, Vmax of LPL for VLDL was twice that of chylomicron with the same apparent Km. The chicken and rat VLDL with different particle size prepared by Bio-Gel A50 gel chromatography were similarly hydrolyzed by LPL, while the hydrolysis of small chicken-chylomicron particles was inclined to be higher than that of the large particles. These results show species differences between chickens and rats in the substrate specificity of LPL.