Lipoprotein Lipase-Mediated Uptake of Glycated LDL

The glycation process plays an important role in accelerated atherosclerosis in diabetes, and the uptake of atherogenic lipoproteins by macrophage in the intima of the vessel wall leads to foam cell formation, an early sign of atherosclerosis. Besides the lipolytic action on the plasma triglyceride component, lipoprotein lipase (LPL) has been reported to enhance the cholesterol uptake by arterial wall cells. In this study, some properties of LPL-mediated low-density lipoprotein (LDL) uptake and the effect of LDL glycation were investigated in RAW 264.7 cell, a murine macrophage cell line. In the presence of LPL, $^{125}I$-LDL binding to RAW 264.7 cells was increased in a dose-dependent manner. At concentrations greater than $20\;{\mu}g/ml$ of LPL, LPL-mediated LDL binding was increased about 17-fold, achieving saturation. Without LPL, both very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) were ineffective in blocking the binding of $^{125}I$-LDL to Cells. However, LPL-enhanced LDL binding was inhibited about 50% by the presence of VLDL, while no significant effect was observed with HDL. Heat inactivation of LPL caused a 30% decrease of LDL binding. In the presence of LPL, the cells took up 40% of cell-bound native LDL. No significant difference was observed in cell binding between native and glycated LDL. However, the uptake of glycated LDL was significantly greater than that of native LDL, reaching to 70% of the total cell bound glycated LDL. These results indicate that LPL can cause the significant enhancement of LDL uptake by RAW 264.7 cells and the enhanced uptake of glycated LDL in the presence of LPL might play an important role in the accelerated atherogenesis in diabetic patients.