Diacyl Phosphatidylethanolamine Research Articles

Mode of transport of fatty acid to endothelial cells influences intracellular fatty acid metabolism.

Fatty acids are transported to cells from a variety of different moieties in the plasma. In this study, using oleate and human umbilical vein endothelial cells, we asked whether the vehicle that delivers fatty acid to cells has an influence on its metabolism upon its incorporation into the cell. For oleate vehicles, we compared free oleate bound to albumin with oleate in low density lipoprotein (LDL) which was delipidated and reconstituted with either radiolabeled triolein or cholesteryl oleate. Using approximately physiologic concentrations of LDL and free oleate, we demonstrated by three lines of evidence unique patterns of cellular oleate metabolism for oleate delivered as triolein within LDL, for oleate delivered as cholesteryl oleate within LDL, and for oleate delivered as free oleate bound to albumin. In fact, the difference was most marked between cholesteryl oleate and triolein, even though the oleate in cholesteryl oleate and triolein was delivered in identically reconstituted LDL particles, which were presumably incorporated into the cells and degraded in lysosomes in a similar fashion. First, we demonstrated that oleate delivered as free oleate or as triolein in reconstituted LDL was desaturated and elongated to fatty acid metabolites, but cholesteryl oleate in reconstituted LDL was not similarly metabolized. The elongated and desaturated metabolites of oleate were preferentially esterified in cellular triglyceride when oleate was delivered as free oleate, but they were preferentially esterified in phospholipids when oleate was delivered as triolein in LDL. Second, we observed that there was a difference in the distribution of oleate among phospholipids when oleate was delivered as cholesteryl oleate in reconstituted LDL versus triolein in reconstituted LDL. When the oleate was delivered as triolein in reconstituted LDL, there was greater esterification in diacyl phosphatidylethanolamine, in phosphatidylserine, and in phosphatidylinositol. When oleate was delivered as cholesteryl oleate in reconstituted LDL, there was greater esterification in diacyl phosphatidylcholine. Third, there was a marked preference for oleate delivered from triolein in LDL over cholesteryl oleate in LDL for esterification into the sn-1 position of plasmalogens as a vinyl ether-linked fatty acid. These data indicate that mode of transport of fatty acid to cells influences fatty acid metabolism upon its incorporation into the cell, even when the fatty acid is delivered from the core of the same lipoprotein.

Selective incorporation of n-3 and n-6 unsaturated fatty acids into animal cell phospholipids.

The selective incorporation of n-3 and n-6 unsaturated fatty acids into phospholipids was investigated by changing the ratio of n-3 unsaturated fatty acids against n-6 unsaturated fatty acids in the medium where Chinese hamster V79-R cells were grown. Unsaturated fatty acids with lower degrees of unsaturation were abundantly incorporated into phosphatidylcholine independently of n-3 and n-6. Unsaturated fatty acids with higher degrees of unsaturation were more predominantly incorporated into phosphatidylethanolamine. When the difference in the numbers of double bond between unsaturated fatty acids was more than two, the unsaturated fatty acids with a higher degree of unsaturation was more selectively incorporated into phosphatidylethanolamine than the unsaturated fatty acids with a lower degree of unsaturation. By the analysis of molecular species, n-3 and n-6 unsaturated fatty acids with higher degrees of unsaturation were incorporated competitively into phosphatidylethanolamine. Finally, docosahexaenoic acid was incorporated into diacyl phosphatidylethanolamine more selectively than the other unsaturated fatty acids.

Structural analysis of underivatized and derivatized aminophospholipids and phosphatidic acid by positive ion liquid secondary ion and collisionally induced dissociation tandem mass spectrometry.

This paper describes an approach for structurally analyzing aminophospholipids, including glycerophosphatidylethanolamine, glycerophosphatidylserine and their lyso analogues, and glycerophosphatidic acid by positive-ion liquid secondary-ion and four-sector tandem mass spectrometry. Polar head groups and the composition and position of the fatty acid chains in aminophospholipid species as well as diacyl and monoacyl phosphatidylethanolamine and their plasmalogen species can be characterized by collisionally induced dissociation of [M+H]+ ions of underivatized molecular species. Tandem mass spectrometry of [M+Na]+ and [M + 2Na-H]+ ions of 9-fluorenylmethyloxycarbonyl-derivatized glycerophosphatidylethanolamine and glycerophosphatidylserine induces fragmentation processes, but product ions are generally less structurally informative. Collisionally induced dissociation of [M + 2Na-H]+ ions of the molecular species of glycerophosphatidic acid not only yields information on the composition and position of fatty acid chains, but also allows the double bond location to be identified. This common positive-ion method is particularly effective in characterizing the molecular species of natural ethanolamine glycerophospholipids because of the advantage of a low detection limit. This approach also represents a useful alternative for the analysis of the molecular species from natural aminophospholipids by tandem mass spectrometry.

Transfer of arachidonyl groups within the lipids of two human neuroblastoma cell lines

The incorporation and mobilization of [ 3H]arachidonic acid in lipids of human neuroblastoma cell lines, SK-N-SHF and LA-N-5, was studied. Essentially similar results were obtained with these two cell lines. Except for phosphatidylinositol which displayed the highest specific activity, the incorporation patterns within phospholipid classes tended to reflect phospholipid composition initially. However at later stages, counts in the acid-stable phosphatidylcholine plateaued and/or decreased while those of plasmenylethanolamine and acid-stable phosphatidylethanolamine increased steadily. When cells were pulse-labelled with [ 3H]arachidonic acid and chased with fresh medium, there was a movement of label from diacyl (acid-stable) phosphatidylcholine to plasmenylethanolamine and diacyl (acid-stable) phosphatidylethanolamine. Plasmenylcholine did not appear to be involved in the arachidonyl group transfer. Under these chase conditions there was extensive turnover in the 32P-labelled polar headgroup of phosphatidylinositol but not in that of the other phospholipids. In both incorporation and chase studies involving [ 3H]arachidonic acid, a movement of arachidonyl groups from triacylglycerol to phospholipid could be observed. The results indicated that the patterns of incorporation and redistribution of arachidonic acid in human neuroblastoma cells were effectively regulated to favor lipids such as phosphatidylinositol and the subclasses of phosphatidylethanolamine. Possible mechanisms involved in these enrichment processes are discussed.

Studies on the extraction of phospholipids from erythrocyte membranes in the rat

The effects of choice of solvent and period of extraction on recovery of phospholipid classes extracted from rat erythrocyte membranes were investigated. For extraction of phosphatidylserine (PS) the best recovery was achieved using chloroform-methanol (2:1. v/v), for diacyl phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) acetone-isopropanol (3:2, v/v), and for extraction of plasmalogen PE, phosphatidylcholine (PC) and sphingomyelin (SM) using hexaneisopropanol (3:2, v/v). Using hexane-isopropanol (3:2, v/v), boiling during the extraction increased the recovery of some of the individual phospholipid classes whereas mechanical treatment of the sample had only a slight effect. Furthermore, the fatty acid composition of PS and PE varied most with different extraction conditions and the phospholipid classes PC and SM were extracted more readily from rat erythrocyte membranes than PS, diacyl and plasmalogen PE.

Passage state affects arachidonic acid content and eicosanoid release in porcine aortic endothelial cells.

Porcine aortic endothelial cells were cultured through four passages from primary cultures. The arachidonic acid content of individual phospholipid classes and the release of 6-keto-prostaglandin F1 alpha and 15-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid in response to 1 microM ionophore A23187 were assayed at each passage. The content of arachidonic acid in phosphatidylinositol and diacyl phosphatidylethanolamine remained constant at passage 1 but declined at passage 2 by approximately 29% and at passage 4 by approximately 59%. The release of 6-keto-prostaglandin F1 alpha was also unchanged at passage 1 but decreased by 60% at passage 2 and by 82% from its original value at passage 4. In contrast, the arachidonic acid content of diacyl phosphatidylcholine and of alkenyl phosphatidylethanolamine decreased with each passage, by 34% at passage 1, 59% at passage 2, 71% at passage 3, and 76% of the original value at passage 4. Stimulation with arachidonic acid reversed the passage effect. The release of 15-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid decreased by 82% at passage 1 and diminished to a 97% decrement from the original value by passage 4. When stimulated with arachidonic acid, 15-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid steadily decreased by approximately 70% at passages 3 and 4. The data indicate that passage state strikingly and nonuniformly affects phospholipid class arachidonic acid content and eicosanoid release in response to agonist stimulation.

Lipid changes of goat sperm plasma membrane during epididymal maturation

Highly purified plasma membranes of maturing goat caput-, corpus- and cauda-epididymal spermatozoa were isolated by aqueous two-phase polymer methods and their lipid constituents were analysed. Phospholipid (approx. 75% w/w), neutral lipid (approx. 15% w/w) and glycolipid (approx. 10% w/w) were the major sperm membrane lipids. There was a significant decrease in the total lipids (approx. 25% w/w), phospholipid (approx. 30% w/w) and glycolipid (approx. 80% w/w) contents of sperm membrane during epididymal maturation. On the contrary, the mature cauda-sperm membrane showed greater (approx. 50% w/w) neutral lipid content than that of the immature caput sperm. Phosphatidylcholine (PC), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) and sphingomyelin were the phospholipids of the sperm membrane, the former two being the major lipids. Both PC and PE fractions consisted of three species - diacyl, alkylacyl and alkenylacyl forms, the last one being the dominant species in both PC and PE. Of all the phospholipids, diacyl PE decreased most strikingly (approx. 65% w/w) during sperm maturation. The neutral lipid fraction contained sterols, wax esters, 1- O-alkyl-2,3-diacylglycerol, triacylglycerol and fatty acids. Sterols represented nearly 75% w/w of the neutral lipids and cholesterol was the major component (approx. 95% w/w) of the sterol fraction. The sperm maturity was associated with marked increase of sterol (approx. 60% w/w) and steryl ester (approx. 200% w/w) and decrease (approx. 50–65% w/w) of the other membrane-bound neutral lipids. The glycolipid was identified as monogalactosyldiacylglycerol. The fatty acid profile of the various membrane lipids underwent marked alteration during the epididymal transit of the male gametes. Cholesterol/phospholipid and saturated/unsaturated fatty acid ratios increased greatly in the maturing sperm membrane. The altered lipid profile of the mature sperm membrane leads to changes in its fluidity that play an important role in determining the structure and functions of the biomembrane.

Phospholipid molecular species in human umbilical artery and vein endothelial cells.

Molecular species of several phospholipid classes and subclasses were quantitatively determined in human umbilical artery and vein endothelial cells. Both types of endothelial cells were similar in phospholipid class composition, whereas they were markedly different in phospholipid subclass and molecular species composition. The amounts of two ether subclasses in phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine were higher in artery endothelial cells than those in vein endothelial cells. The relative content of alkylacyl subclass in phosphatidylcholine, a precursor of platelet-activating factor, was about three times higher in artery endothelial cells than in vein endothelial cells. In artery endothelial cells, arachidonic acid was in highest amounts in alkenylacyl phosphatidylethanolamine, followed by diacyl phosphatidylcholine, diacyl phosphatidylethanolamine, and phosphatidylinositol. In the vein endothelial cells, arachidonic acid was highest in phosphatidylinositol, followed by diacyl phosphatidylethanolamine, diacyl phosphatidylcholine, and alkenylacyl phosphatidylethanolamine. Artery endothelial cells had higher amounts of molecular species containing arachidonic acid than vein endothelial cells in all phospholipid classes and subclasses. These differences are thought to reflect the functional differences of artery and vein endothelial cells.

Specificity of rat hepatic phosphatidylethanolamine N-methyltransferase for molecular species of diacyl phosphatidylethanolamine.

The specificity of phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) N-methyltransferase for molecular species of PE has been investigated. Phosphatidylcholine (PC), synthesized by incubation of [methyl-3H]S-adenosyl-L-methionine with microsomes or pure enzyme (Ridgway, N. D., and Vance, D. E. (1987) J. Biol. Chem. 262, 17231-17239) plus microsomal PE, had a distribution of methyl label in molecular species similar to the mole percent distribution of molecular species in the precursor PE. A similar lack of specificity was observed with PE that was synthesized from egg PC by transphosphatidylation with phospholipase D. Phosphatidyl-N-monomethylethanolamine (PMME) and phosphatidyl-N,N-dimethylethanolamine (PDME), both with the acyl composition of egg PC, were methylated by the pure enzyme and showed a distribution of labeled molecular species in PDME and PC, respectively, similar to the mole percent distribution of egg PC. Results with synthetic PEs and pure methyltransferase showed higher rates of methylation with more unsaturated species. Long chain saturated PEs (e.g. dipalmitoyl-PE) were not methylated by the enzyme. Maximal methylation rates were obtained with two or more double bonds in the substrate PE. Rates of methylation of the saturated and monoenoic PEs could be enhanced when 40 mol % polyunsaturated-rich microsomal PC was included in the mixed micelles. PC isolated from primary cultures of rat hepatocytes pulsed with [methyl-3H]methionine was analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography. Initially, the labeling pattern of PC molecular species varied slightly from that of total hepatocyte PE and hepatocyte microsomal PE. 1-Palmitoyl-2-docosahexaenoyl-PC had the highest specific activity at the end of the pulse and was preferentially labeled relative to the mole percent distribution of hepatocyte PE molecular species. During the 24-h chase period both the percent distribution of label and specific activity of this species of PC declined. In the same time period, there was a corresponding increase in specific activity and percent distribution of label in 1-palmitoyl and 1-stearoyl species with linoleate and arachidonate in the sn-2 position.

Composition of phospholipid molecular species from mammary tumors.

The molecular phospholipid species of mammary tumors induced by 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene in rats that were fed diets containing 20 or 3% sunflower-seed oil and different levels of calcium were analyzed by high-pressure liquid chromatography. Twenty-seven molecular species of phospholipids were identified. Phosphatidylcholine was predominantly composed of palmitoyl-arachidonoyl (16:0-20:4) (17-21%), palmitoyl-oleoyl (16:0-18:1) (19-21%), stearoyl-arachidonoyl (18:0-20:4) (12-13%), and 1,2-dipalmitoyl (16:0-16:0) (10-14%) species. The major molecular species of phosphatidylethanolamine were 18:0-20:4 (37-39%) and 16:0-20:4 (10-11%). The composition of diacyl phosphatidylcholine and diacyl phosphatidylethanolamine molecular species from rat mammary tumors was not greatly affected by the different diets.

Arachidonate released upon agonist stimulation preferentially originates from arachidonate most recently incorporated into nuclear membrane phospholipids.

When icosanoid-producing cells are stimulated by an agonist, 2-10% of total cellular arachidonate is released from phospholipids, and a variable percentage of the released arachidonate is subsequently converted into icosanoids. We used a mouse fibrosarcoma cell line (HSDM1C1) which synthesizes prostaglandin E2 in response to bradykinin stimulation to address the following questions: 1) upon cell stimulation is newly incorporated arachidonate preferentially released from phospholipids over previously incorporated arachidonate and 2) is there a corresponding change in phospholipid or membrane compartmentation of arachidonate to explain preferential release of newly incorporated arachidonate? To study changes in the availability of arachidonate for release from phospholipids, we incubated HSDM1C1 cells with 0.67 microM [14C]arachidonate for 15 min and chased the pulse of radiolabeled arachidonate with normal serum fatty acids. We found that of the [14C]arachidonate incorporated into phospholipids during the 15-min pulse, the percent released upon stimulation decreased nearly 3-fold from 8.9 +/- 0.5% at 5 min of chase to 3.6 +/- 0.2% (mean +/- S.E., n = 6, P less than 0.001) after only 60 min of chase. Percent release of arachidonate from nonpulsed controls was 3-4%. Although arachidonate release from phospholipids decreased significantly after 60 min of chase, the arachidonate which was released always originated predominantly from phosphatidylinositol. There was no decrease in the activities of enzymes required for arachidonate release during this time period. We also observed that throughout the period of the chase, the radiolabeled arachidonate remained esterified to the same phospholipid class into which it was initially incorporated (approximately 40% of [14C]arachidonate in diacyl phosphatidylcholine, 40% in phosphatidylinositol, and 15% in diacyl phosphatidylethanolamine. In cell fractionation experiments, we found that after 1-3 h of chase, [14C]arachidonate decreased in subcellular fractions containing nuclei, as it became progressively unavailable for release from phospholipids. Thus, our results indicate that 1) upon cell stimulation, the most recently incorporated pool of arachidonate, which is in high concentration in the nuclear membrane, is preferentially released and that 2) arachidonate rapidly moves out of the nuclear membrane into a less releasable pool while remaining esterified to the phospholipid moiety into which it was initially incorporated. This study indicates that the subcellular compartmentation of arachidonate has a marked influence on the cellular metabolism of arachidonate.

Degradation of phospholipid molecular species during experimental cerebral ischemia in rats.

Previous investigators have shown that free fatty acids that accumulate during ischemia are an indicator of evolution in ischemic brain damage. Our study describes the temporal relations between free fatty acid accumulation and degradation of phospholipid molecular species after cerebral ischemia. Using the four-vessel occlusion model of adult Wistar rats, we analyzed quantitatively the cerebral phospholipid molecular species of diacyl phosphatidylcholine and diacyl phosphatidylethanolamine and released free fatty acids during ischemia. Total diacyl phosphatidylcholine molecular species decreased gradually but did not show any significant difference even at 60 minutes. By contrast, total diacyl phosphatidylethanolamine abruptly decreased after 5 minutes and continued to decrease significantly thereafter. Polyunsaturated molecular species showed a higher ratio of degradation than saturated and monounsaturated molecular species of either phosphatidylcholine or phosphatidylethanolamine. Total free fatty acid accumulated according to the time elapsed, and statistical significance was obtained after 10 minutes. Free arachidonic and docosahexaenoic acids were attributed to these significant accumulations at 10, 15, and 30 minutes. At 60 minutes, individual free fatty acids increased nonspecifically. Free fatty acids, which are hydrolyzed from phospholipid classes, are known to be further metabolized to bioactive substances such as prostaglandins and leukotrienes. Rapid degradation of phospholipid molecular species, especially of diacyl polyunsaturated molecular species, could be an important finding to membrane perturbation. Effective prevention of these changes might enhance tolerance to ischemic brain damage.

Distribution of phospholipid molecular species containing arachidonic acid and cholesterol in V79-UF cells

V79-UF cells were isolated from Chinese hamster V79 cells as a cell line that requires exogenous unsaturated fatty acids for growth. V79-UF cells incorporated arachidonic acid into phospholipids. The molecular species of diacyl phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine containing arachidonic acid comprised 61.4 and 70.5% of the total phospholipid molecular species in total membranes and 58.1 and 64.7% in plasma membrane, respectively. Polyunsaturated molecular species were distributed in a higher amount in the intracellular membranes than in the plasma membrane. No significant difference was seen in the diffusion coefficient between the plasma membranes from cells supplemented with oleic and arachidonic acids in spite of a distinct difference in the degree of unsaturation between the molecular species of these plasma membranes. The amount of cholesterol in the plasma membrane was higher in the cells grown in the presence of arachidonic acid than in those grown in the presence of oleic acid.

Evidence for diplasmalogen as the major component of rabbit sperm phosphatidylethanolamine.

The question of whether diplasmalogens [1,2-di(O-1'-alkenyl) phosphatidyl derivatives] make up part of the plasmalogen component of cell phospholipids was examined using rabbit epididymal spermatozoa. These cells are readily obtained as a highly homogeneous suspension and long have been known to have high plasmalogen content. Phospholipids were determined by thin layer chromatography (TLC) with CuSO4 staining. Plasmalogens were determined by hydrolysis of the phospholipids with TCA/HCl, followed by TLC and CuSO4 staining. Ethanolamine derivatives were determined by ninhydrin. The phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) content of these cells was 29 +/- 2 micrograms/10(8) cells, 90% of which was assayed as diplasmalogen and 10% as diacyl PE. No monoplasmalogen could be detected. The presence of diplasmalogen as the major component of PE was given further support from infrared and proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR) spectroscopy, which showed the presence of O-1'-alkenyl substituents but near absence of O-acyl substituents. The phosphatidylcholine (PC) content of the cells was 104 +/- 5 mu/10(8) cells, of which 50% was monoplasmalogen with the 1'-alkenyl group on the 2 position of the glycerol moiety. No diplasmalogen was found in PC. The other phospholipids in rabbit sperm were phosphatidylglycerol (PG), cardiolipin (CL), sphingomyelin (SP) and lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC). Phosphatidylserine (PS) and phosphatidylinositol (PI) were present at the limits of detectability of the TLC method. None of these phospholipids contained plasmalogen. The PE component of rabbit sperm phospholipids appears to differ from that of the other cells in having the previously unreported diplasmalogen as its major constituent.

Mobilization of arachidonic acid from specific glycerophospholipids of human fetal membranes during early labor.

Arachidonic acid is mobilized from the fetal membranes (amnion and chorion laeve) during human parturition. To define the lipid species that serve as the source of arachidonic acid, we determined the lipid composition of fetal membranes obtained before and during early labor. The arachidonic acid content of diacyl phosphatidylethanolamine decreased by 41% in amnion and 20% in chorion laeve during early labor. The arachidonic acid content of phosphatidylinositol decreased by 35% in amnion and 16% in chorion laeve. No statistically significant changes were found in the arachidonic acid content of the other lipid fractions of either amnion or chorion laeve. Thus, during early labor, there is a net release of arachidonic acid specifically from diacyl phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylinositol of amnion and chorion laeve. The specific decrease in the arachidonic acid content of the diacyl phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylinositol of human fetal membranes during early labor, as found in the present investigation, can be accounted for by enzymatic activities that are relatively specific for the release of arachidonic acid from these two glycerophospholipids.

The molecular species composition of individual diacyl phospholipids in human platelets

The molecular species composition of the individual diacyl phospholipids was determined in human platelets. The 1-acyl (16:0, 18:0, etc.) homologues of the various 2-acyl (16:0, 18:1, 18:2, 20:4, etc.) species of the phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylserine and phosphatidylinositol were assessed by the use of thin-layer and gas-liquid chromatography in combination with specific lipases for establishing the positional distribution of the fatty acyl chains and generating the diacylglycerol derivatives. A marked heterogeneity was found in the complement of individual molecular species associated with the different platelet phospholipids. The 1–16:0 2–18:1 species predominated in the phosphatidylcholine (21% of total) but contributed only 5%, 2%, and trace amounts to the ethanolamine, inositol, and serine phospholipids, respectively. The 1-stearoyl 2-arachidonoyl species was by far the most prevalent one in the diacyl phosphatidylethanolamine (47% of total) and phosphatidylinositol (71% of total) but represented only 10% of the phosphatidylcholine. The 1–18:0 2–18:1 (37%) plus 1–18:0 2–20:4 (41%) together contributed 78% to the total phosphatidylserine. Interestingly, the 1-stearoyl 2-arachidonyl phosphatidylinositol represented only 6 mol% of the total diacyl phospholipid in human platelets. Of the total mixed 1-acyl 2–20:4 species in human platelets, 31, 35, 17 and 17% was found in the phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylserine and phosphatidylinositol, respectively. These results indicate that the mechanisms involved in the release of arachidonate for prostaglandin and thromboxane synthesis would need to possess a profound degree of selectivity if any single molecular species of a given platelet phospholipid were the source of the released arachidonic acid.

Arachidonic acid release from diacyl phosphatidylethanolamine by human platelet membranes.

At pH9.5 in the presence of 10 mM-Ca2+, human platelet membranes released 22% (167 of 785 nmol) of arachidonic acid that was esterified to phospholipids. With the use of synthetic choline (dinonadecanoyl) and ethanolamine (diheptadecanoyl) phosphoglycerides as internal reference compounds, 115 nmol of the released arachidonic acid was shown to be derived from endogenous breakdown of the phosphatidylethanolamine fraction. Further, the lysophosphatidylethanolamine that was released along with the arachidonic acid was shown virtually to lack fatty aldehydes and to contain a preponderance of fatty acids that have a preference for esterification at the 1-position of naturally occurring phosphatidylethanolamine of human platelets. These findings ruled out plasmalogen phosphatidylethanolamine as the source of the released arachidonic acid. We conclude that diacyl phosphatidylethanolamine was the principal source of arachidonic acid released by human platelet membranes under the conditions described.

Distribution of Phospholipids, Fatty Acids, and Platelet Factor 3 Activity Among Subcellular Fractions of Human Platelets

Abstract As compared with other methods, our recently reported method for subcellular fractionation of human platelets improves the separation of mitochondria, alpha granules, and lysosomal enzyme activities. The relative purity of these fractions has led us to undertake the present study to compare the subcellular distribution of phospholipids, fatty acids, and platelet factor 3 (clot-promoting) activity. Two findings pertaining to distribution of phospholipids were entirely new. (1) In the alpha granule zone, plasmalogen phosphatidyl ethanolamine peaked at the expense of diacyl phosphatidyl ethanolamine. (2) The fatty acid composition of the membrane lysophosphatidyl choline suggested that it may have been formed by the action of platelet phospholipase A2 activity. The fatty acids of the membranes showed a markedly asymmetrical distribution in noncholine versus choline phospholipids. The latter held 94%, 72%, and 85%, respectively, of the total content of 16:0, 18:1, and 18:2 fatty acids, whereas 55% of the 18:0, 72% of 20:4, and 67% of higher polyenoic acids other than 20:4 were esterified to the noncholine group. The most important new information related to clot-promoting activity, which, on the basis of protein content, was highest in the membrane fractions, but on the basis of phospholipid content in the nonmembranous fractions. The discussion centers on possible explanations for this novel finding.

Distribution of phospholipids, fatty acids, and platelet factor 3 activity among subcellular fractions of human platelets

As compared with other methods, our recently reported method for subcellular fractionation of human platelets improves the separation of mitochondria, alpha granules, and lysosomal enzyme activities. The relative purity of these fractions has led us to undertake the present study to compare the subcellular distribution of phospholipids, fatty acids, and platelet factor 3 (clot-promoting) activity. Two findings pertaining to distribution of phospholipids were entirely new. (1) In the alpha granule zone, plasmalogen phosphatidyl ethanolamine peaked at the expense of diacyl phosphatidyl ethanolamine. (2) The fatty acid composition of the membrane lysophosphatidyl choline suggested that it may have been formed by the action of platelet phospholipase A2 activity. The fatty acids of the membranes showed a markedly asymmetrical distribution in noncholine versus choline phospholipids. The latter held 94%, 72%, and 85%, respectively, of the total content of 16:0, 18:1, and 18:2 fatty acids, whereas 55% of the 18:0, 72% of 20:4, and 67% of higher polyenoic acids other than 20:4 were esterified to the noncholine group. The most important new information related to clot-promoting activity, which, on the basis of protein content, was highest in the membrane fractions, but on the basis of phospholipid content in the nonmembranous fractions. The discussion centers on possible explanations for this novel finding.

Transfer of arachidonic acid to human platelet plasmalogen in response to thrombin

We have examined the turnover of phosphatide [ 3H]-arachidonic acid in human platelets exposed to thrombin and have found: a) a decrease in the radioactivity of phosphatidyl choline and phosphatidyl inositol b) no alteration in the radioactivity of phosphatidyl serine or diacyl phosphatidyl ethanolamine and c) a marked increase in the specific activity of plasmalogen phosphatidyl ethanolamine, attributable to labelled fatty acid in ester linkage. The increase was not depressed by the presence of unlabelled arachidonic acid in the medium when the platelets were exposed to thrombin. Experiments with the non-penetrating reagent trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid revealed a) no preferential exposure of plasmalogen phosphatidyl ethanolamine to the medium during incubation with thrombin, and b) an inhibitory effect of the reagent on the release of arachidonic acid and transfer to plasmalogen. We suggest that plasmalogen phosphatidyl ethanolamine is a receptor for arachidonic acid transferred from phosphatidyl choline and/or phosphatidyl inositol within the membrane and that the enzyme(s) involved in this transfer is (are) accessible at the surface of the platelet.