Binding of bile acids, oleic acid, and organic anions by rat and human hepatic Z protein

Binding affinities of purified Z proteins from rat and human liver for bile acids, oleic acid, and organic anions were studied. Purification of Z protein from both rat and human hepatic cytosol was performed by gel filtration, chromatofocusing, and hydroxyapatite chromatography. Both purified proteins showed the same molecular weight (Mr = 14,000) and isoelectric points were 6.9 and 6.5 for rat and human proteins, respectively. Binding studies were performed by the competitive displacement of 1-anilino-8-naphthalene sulfonate. Rat and human Z proteins exhibited similar binding affinities for bile acids, oleic acid, and organic anions. Among various bile acids, both proteins bound monohydroxy bile acids with high affinity and trihydroxy bile acids with low affinity; sulfates were bound with higher and glucuronides with lower affinity than their parent bile acids. In comparison with GSH S-transferases, rat Z protein had lower affinity for bile acids than rat GSH S-transferase B and human Z protein had higher affinity for bile acids than human cationic GSH S-transferase. The role for Z protein in the intracellular binding of bile acids may be particularly important in human liver.