title: Cholesterol esterification by lecithin-cholesterol acyltransferase in A-I-free plasma.
abstract: Lecithin-cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) mass, activity and endogenous cholesterol esterification rate were measured in plasma and apolipoprotein A-I-free (A-I-free) plasma from two normolipidemic and two hyperlipidemic subjects, and from a patient with Tangier disease. A-I was removed from plasma by an anti-A-I immunosorbent. LCAT activity was measured using an exogenous substrate. The plasma LCAT concentration of the four non-Tangier subjects was 4.63 +/- 0.64 micrograms/ml (mean +/- S.D.); means of 26 +/- 7% of total LCAT mass and 22 +/- 11% of plasma LCAT activity were found in their A-I-free plasma. The plasma LCAT concentration of the Tangier subject was 1.49 micrograms/ml. About 95% of LCAT mass and all LCAT activity were found in the A-I-free plasma. Thus, the LCAT mass (1.4 micrograms/ml) and activity (43.1 nmol/h per ml) in Tangier A-I-free plasma were not significantly different from that found in the four non-Tangier A-I-free plasmas (mass = 1.21 +/- 0.44 micrograms/ml; activity: 27.3 +/- 18.4 nmol/h per ml). Although the LCAT activity per unit mass of the enzyme in plasma and A-I-free plasma were comparable (24.9 +/- 2.8 vs. 22.8 +/- 7.8 nmol/h per micrograms LCAT, n = 5), the plasma cholesterol esterification rate of A-I-free plasma from all subjects was lower than that found in plasma (7.5 +/- 2.7 vs. 13.0 +/- 3.8 nmol/h per micrograms LCAT). In conclusion, although A-I-containing lipoproteins are the preferred substrates of LCAT, other LCAT substrates and cofactors are found in A-I-free plasma along with LCAT. Thus, non-A-I-containing particles can serve as physiological substrates for cholesterol esterification mediated by LCAT.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016632:Apolipoprotein A-I; D001054:Apolipoproteins A / Q000097:blood*; D001667:Binding, Competitive; D002788:Cholesterol Esters / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D007009:Hypolipoproteinemias / Q000097:blood*; D007106:Immune Sera; D007700:Kinetics; D007862:Phosphatidylcholine-Sterol O-Acyltransferase / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology; D013379:Substrate Specificity; D013631:Tangier Disease / Q000097:blood* / Q000201:enzymology
chemical_list: D016632:Apolipoprotein A-I; D001054:Apolipoproteins A; D002788:Cholesterol Esters; D007106:Immune Sera; D007862:Phosphatidylcholine-Sterol O-Acyltransferase