Activities of lipoprotein lipase and hepatic lipase on long- and medium-chain triglyceride emulsions used in parenteral nutrition

Prolonged parenteral nutrition frequently includes lipid emulsions. This report investigates how emulsions containing triacylglycerols of different molecular weight affect the rate of clearance in vivo and the activity in vitro of the two enzymes responsible for this clearance: diaphragm lipoprotein lipase (LPL) and hepatic endothelial lipase (HL). Whatever their molecular weight, the triacylglycerols of the emulsions were hydrolyzed by LPL and HL. However, the reaction was faster with medium-chain triglycerides (MCT) than with long-chain triglycerides (LCT). To be active, LPL required the presence of serum (apolipoprotein CII); for maximum activity less serum was required for MCT than for LCT. In the case of HL, serum inhibited the effect on LCT but not on MCT. However, hydrolysis of emulsified triacylglycerols by LPL and HL required the presence of albumin as a transporter of the fatty acids released. Less albumin was needed for maximum activity with MCT than with LCT. In vivo, although MCT emulsions were eliminated more rapidly than LCT emulsions, the former resulted in a greater increase in plasma concentrations of triacylglycerols and free glycerol than did the latter. This is explained by the fact that MCT provides about 1.8 times more triacylglycerol molecules than the LCT. In vitro, LPL and HL hydrolyzed structured lipids (randomly esterified triacylglycerols of medium- and long-chain fatty acids) slightly less rapidly than they did control lipids, but there was no comparable difference in the blood lipid parameters examined in vivo. Because the MCT emulsions are cleared rapidly, their fatty acids are rapidly made available to the various tissues where they are oxidized.