Effect of hyperpnea on enzymes of the CDPcholine path for phosphatidylcholine synthesis in rat lung.

We have examined the activity of three enzymes in pulmonary surfactant phosphatidylcholine synthesis following the hyperpnea induced by having rats either inspire 5%CO2/13%O2/82%N2 for 24 hr or swim in thermoneutral water for 30 min. Both stimuli markedly increase frequency and tidal volume of breathing and promote the release of surfactant. Lungs were perfused to remove blood, lavaged, and then homogenized in 1 mM Hepes, 0.15M KCl at pH 7.0. The homogenate was centrifuged at 9,000 g (av) for 10 min to sediment the mitochondria and lamellar bodies and at 100,000 g (av) for 60 min to obtain the microsomal and cytosol fractions. Incubations were carried out under determined optimal conditions and zero order kinetics. Choline kinase (CK), cholinephosphate cytidylyltransferase (CP-cyT) and choline phosphotransferase (CPT) were assayed by the incorporation of [methyl-14C]choline chloride into phosphocholine, [methyl-14C]phosphocholine into CDPcholine, and [14C]CDPcholine into phosphatidylcholine, respectively. The incubation products were separated by thin-layer chromatography. Whereas both forms of hyperpnea increased the activity of CP-cyT in the microsomal fraction, they had no effect on the activity of either cytosolic CP-cyT and CK, or microsomal CPT. A similar increase in tidal volume in an isolated perfused rat lung had no effect. We conclude that, in vivo, hyperpnea increases the activity of CP-cyT, the rate-limiting enzyme in phosphatidylcholine synthesis. Whether this is due to an increase in the amount of enzyme, or of a cofactor, is unknown.