Regulation of lipolysis in normoxic and hypoxic rat myocytes

The mechanism involved in ischemia-induced myocardial lipolysis is still a matter of controversy. To elucidate the regulation of lipolysis at the cellular level, we incubated isolated rat myocytes in normoxic or hypoxic medium containing 11.1 mM glucose. Rates of lipolysis (glycerol output) were significantly (P less than 0.05, n = 12) higher in hypoxic than in normoxic myocytes (34.9 +/- 3.9 vs. 17.7 +/- 3.4 nmol/10(6) cells.30 min). However, there was no change in the content of cellular triacylglycerol (TG) in normoxic myocytes whereas it fell slightly (8 +/- 2 nmol/10(6) cells.30 min, P less than 0.05, n = 12) in hypoxic myocytes. On a molar basis glycerol output was significantly higher than the corresponding fall in TG (P less than 0.05, n = 12, both normoxic and hypoxic myocytes). This difference (glycerol output--TG reduction) amounted to 17.1 +/- 3.4 nmol/10(6) cells.30 min in normoxic myocytes and 27.6 +/- 5.1 nmol/10(6) cells.30 min in hypoxic myocytes (P less than 0.05, n = 12, normoxic vs. hypoxic). The hypoxia-induced rise in glycerol output was paralleled by an increased intracellular level of glycerol-3-phosphate. Both these responses were, however, dose-dependently inhibited by addition of pyruvate to the incubation medium, giving rise to a close correlation between cellular glycerol-3-phosphate and glycerol output (r = 0.75, P less than 0.05). This indicates mass action of glycerol-3-phosphate on fatty acid-TG cycling under these conditions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)