Studies on chicken pancreatic lipase and colipase

Lipase and colipase have been purified to homogeneity from chicken pancreatic tissue. The enzyme has a molecular weight (48 000) and catalytic properties similar to those of pancreatic lipase from higher mammals. Hydrolysis of triolein by chicken lipase is strongly inhibited by various bile salts, including sodium taurochenodeoxycholate, which is present in large proportion in chicken bile. Inhibition is reversed by colipase. With triolein as enzyme substrate, in the presence of sodium deoxycholate, no difference was observed in the ability of pure colipase from chicken, horse or pig to fully activate bile-salt-inhibited lipase from the same species. However, kinetic studies of the hydrolysis of a lecithin-stabilized emulsion of triacylglycerol (Intralipid) by chicken lipase show that the lag period is much longer in the presence of porcine colipase than with the chicken cofactor. This might reflect the higher ability of the avian enzyme to associate with colipase from the same species than with mammalian cofactors when the triacylglycerol substrate surface is covered with amphiphilic lecithin. From our study, the chicken pancreatic lipase/colipase system appears to be functionally similar to homologous lipolytic systems from higher mammals. It is then likely that they are of comparable physiological significance in fat digestion in avian and mammalian species.