Hormonal regulation of adipose-tissue acetyl-coenzyme A carboxylase by changes in the polymeric state of the enzyme. The role of long-chain fatty acyl-coenzyme A thioesters and citrate

1. Acetyl-CoA carboxylase activity was measured in extracts of rat epididymal fat-pads either on preparation of the extracts (initial activity) or after incubation of the extracts with citrate (total activity). In the presence of glucose or fructose, brief exposure of pads to insulin increased the initial activity of acetyl-CoA carboxylase; no increase occurred in the absence of substrate. Adrenaline in the presence of glucose and insulin decreased the initial activity. None of these treatments led to a substantial change in the total activity of acetyl-CoA carboxylase. A large decrease in the initial activity of acetyl-CoA carboxylase also occurred with fat-pads obtained from rats that had been starved for 36h although the total activity was little changed by this treatment. 2. Conditions of high-speed centrifugation were found which appear to permit the separation of the polymeric and protomeric forms of the enzyme in fat-pad extracts. After the exposure of the fat-pads to insulin (in the presence of glucose), the proportion of the enzyme in the polymeric form was increased, whereas exposure to adrenaline (in the presence of glucose and insulin) led to a decrease in enzyme activity. 3. These changes are consistent with a role of citrate (as activator) or fatty acyl-CoA thioesters (as inhibitors) in the regulation of the enzyme by insulin and adrenaline; no evidence that the effects of these hormones involve phosphorylation or dephosphorylation of the enzyme could be found. 4. Changes in the whole tissue concentration of citrate and fatty acyl-CoA thioesters were compared with changes in the initial activity of acetyl-CoA carboxylase under a variety of conditions of incubation. No correlation between the citrate concentration and the initial enzyme activity was evident under any condition studied. Except in fat-pads which were exposed to insulin there was little inverse correlation between the concentration in the tissue of fatty acyl-CoA thioesters and the initial activity of acetyl-CoA carboxylase. 5. It is suggested that changes in the concentration of free fatty acyl-CoA thioesters (which may not be reflected in whole tissue concentrations of these metabolites) may be important in the regulation of the activity of acetyl-CoA carboxylase. The possibility is discussed that the concentration of free fatty acyl-CoA thioesters may be controlled by binding to a specific protein with properties similar to albumin.