LC-MS measurement of triglyceride hydrolysis: Application in studies of Patatin-like phospholipase domain-containing...

The accumulation of triglycerides is associated with several disease states, consequently, modulation of lipid droplet biology by augmenting targets that affect triglycerides represents an attractive area of research. Unfortunately, there are limited options for high (er) throughput lipase activity readouts, especially those which do not involve radiolabeled tracers. The use of liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry analyses could facilitate screening efforts aimed at developing small molecule drug candidates. As a detection method, LC-MS is generally sensitive, highly specific and affords scalability to enhance throughput. Herein, we developed and validated an assay that enables studies of Patatin-like phospholipase domain-containing protein 3 (PNPLA3) activity. Since the literature implicates PNPLA3 mutations in the pathophysiology of fatty liver, we optimized the assay to enable studies of wild type and I148 M mutant forms of the enzyme. Initial studies utilized the detection of oleic acid but to improve sensitivity (and therein drive down protein requirements, especially for the I148 M mutant), the final version of the assay measured the production of diolein in 384-well plates. Good reproducibility (Z' ∼ 0.78) and sufficient signal:background ∼ 60:1 were observed. In summary, the hydrolysis of triolein, with subsequent quantitation of diolein, offers a robust lipase activity assay.