The effects of pH and salt on the lipid binding and enzyme activity of lipoprotein lipase.

This paper demonstrates a striking difference between the effects of salt and pH on the activity of lipoprotein lipase against two different substrates: Intralipid and bovine milk fat droplets. With the former substrate 1 M NaCl caused only a slight reduction in enzyme activity and the stimulation by apolipoprotein C-II was the same from 0.1 to 1.1 M NaCl. In contrast, 0.5 M or more NaCl virtually abolished the enzyme activity in the milk system. In this system the salt also abolished binding of the enzyme to the lipid droplets, whereas in the Intralipid system most of the enzyme remained bound even at 1 M NaCl. A similar picture was obtained with respect to effects of pH. In the milk system the activity decreased sharply at pH values above 8.5, whereas in the Intralipid system it continues to rise to pH 10, and the stimulation by activator protein is the same at all pH values. Correlating with this, the binding of the enzyme to the lipid droplets was highly dependent on pH values in the milk systems, with optimum binding around pH 8, whereas in the Intralipid system most of the enzyme remained bound to the lipid droplets at all pH values. These studies demonstrate that apolipoprotein C-II can activate lipoprotein lipase at a wide range of salt concentrations and of pH. They suggest that the well-known effects of high salt concentrations and of high pH to decrease lipoprotein lipase activity are exerted primarily on the enzyme itself.