IMPORTANCE OF THE DIFFERENT STEPS OF GLYCOSYLATION FOR THE ACTIVITY AND SECRETION OF LIPOPROTEIN-LIPASE IN RAT PREADIPOCYTES STUDIED WITH MONENSIN AND TUNICAMYCIN

Lipoprotein lipase synthesized by cultured rat preadipocytes is present in three compartments: an intracellular, a surface-related 3-min heparin-releasable, and that secreted into the culture medium. 30 min after addition of 6 .mu.M monensin, the lipoprotein lipase activity in the heparin-releasable compartment starts to decrease; by 4 h of monensin treatment the lipoprotein lipase activity in the heparin-releasable pool and in the culture medium is about 10% of that found in control dishes. The intracellular activity, which had been identified as lipoprotein lipase by an antiserum to lipoprotein lipase, increases slowly and doubles by 24 h. However, since the cellular compartment accounts for 10-25% of total activity, this increase does not account for the missing enzyme activity. To determine whether this enzyme molecule is synthesized but is not active, incorporation of labeled leucine, mannose and galactose into immunoadsorbable lipoprotein lipase was studied in control, monensin- or tunicamycin-treated cells. Addition of tunicamycin (5 .mu.g/ml) for 24 h caused a 30-50% reduction in immunoadsorbable lipoprotein lipase, but the enzyme activity was reduced by 90%. On the other hand, 4 h monensin treatment reduced both incorporation of [3H]leucine into immunoadsorbable lipoprotein lipase and heparin-releasable and medium lipoprotein lipase activity by 57 to 77%. The immunoadsorbable lipoprotein lipase in the intracellular compartment has a [14C]mannose to [3H]galactose ratio of 0.15 and this ratio increased 6-fold in monensin-treated cells. The intracellular lipoprotein lipase in monensin-treated cells had the same affinity for both the native and synthetic substrate as the lipoprotein lipase in control cells, yet its spontaneous secretion into the culture medium and its release by 3 min heparin treatment was markedly decreased. The present results indicate that: (a) the presence of asparagine-linked oligosaccharide (formation of which is inhibited by tunicamycin) is mandatory for the expression of lipoprotein lipase activity; (b) lipoprotein lipase is active also in a high mannose form; and (c) terminal glycosylation and oligosaccharide processing, which is inhibited by monensin, may be important for the appearance of heparin-releasable lipoprotein lipase and secretion of lipoprotein lipase into the medium.