RELEASE OF LIPOPROTEIN-LIPASE FROM CARDIAC MYOCYTES BY LOW-MOLECULAR-WEIGHT HEPARIN

Incubation of cardiac myocytes from rat heart with low-molecular weight heparin (LMWH; Mr approx. 3 kDa) for 30 min resulted in a concentration-dependent release of lipoprotein lipase (LPL) activity into the incubation medium. The release of lipoprotein lipase from cardiac myocytes isolated from both control and diabetic rat hearts induced by LMWH (10 mug/mL) following incubation times of 10 or 30 min was significantly greater than that produced by unfractionated heparin (10 and 30 mug/mL) or decavanadate (1 mM). Since LMWH released more LPL activity into the incubation medium than unfractionated heparin following a short (10 min) incubation time, LMWH is probably more effective in displacing LPL bound to heparan sulfate proteoglycan binding sites on the cell surface of cardiac myocytes.