Journal of Lipid Research, Vol 37, 2351-2360, Copyright © 1996 by Lipid Research, Inc.
Metabolism of hydroperoxy-phospholipids in human hepatoma HepG2 cells
Y Bao and G Williamson
Department of Biochemistry, Institute of Food Research, Norwich Laboratory, Norwich Research Park, Colney, United Kingdom.
Two enzymatic mechanisms have been proposed for the metabolism of
hydroperoxy-phospholipids: i) the combined action of phospholipase A2 and
glutathione peroxidase, and/or ii) direct enzymatic reduction. The latter
reaction may be catalyzed by selenium-dependent phospholipid hydroperoxide
glutathione peroxidase and/or by glutathione S- transferase alpha. To study
the pathway of this reaction, we used human hepatoma HepG2 cells into which
was incorporated labeled, hydroperoxy- phospholipids. The major product of
incorporated l-palmitoyl-2-(13- hydroperoxy-cis-9,
trans-11-octadecadienoyl)-L-3-phosphatidylcholine was the corresponding
hydroxy-phospholipid with no hydroxy- or hydroperoxy-fatty acids. The
contributions to reduction of hydroperoxy- phospholipids in HepG2 cells
from glutathione S-transferase Al and phospholipid hydroperoxide
glutathione peroxidase were calculated to be 0.5% and 99.5%, respectively.
Increasing selenium in the cell culture medium led to increases in
selenium-dependent phospholipid hydroperoxide glutathione peroxidase
activity but not in glutathione S- transferase alpha. This increase in the
selenium-dependent enzyme was paralleled by a concomitant increase in the
extent of reduction of the incorporated hydroperoxy-phospholipid. We
conclude that the main metabolic fate of hydroperoxy-phospholipids in HepG2
cells is by direct reduction to hydroxy-phospholipids by phospholipid
hydroperoxide glutathione peroxidase but also by glutathione S-transferase
alpha, and that phospholipase A2/selenium-dependent glutathione peroxidase
does not play a significant role in the reduction.