Possible involvement of acyltransferase systems in the formation of pulmonary surfactant lipid in rat

Dithiobis (2-nitrobenzoic acid)-resistant and -sensitive glycerophosphate acyltransferase systems were present in rat lung as in liver. The former was specific for palmitate while the latter could incorporate saturated and unsaturated acyl-CoAs comparably. The former has higher affinity for palmitate than the latter indicating that the 1-position of glycerophosphate can be acylated selectively with palmitate under certain conditions. The specificities of 1-acylglycerophosphate and 1-acylglycerophosphocholine acyltransferase systems were similar in lung and liver; both systems showed higher specificities for unsaturated acyl-CoAs. However, the selectivities observed at lower concentrations of phospholipid acceptors in the presence of equimolar mixtures of saturated and unsaturated acyl-CoAs were much different; the lung systems showed relatively higher selectivities for palmitate than the liver systems in the formation of both diacylglycerophosphate and phosphatidylcholine. On the other hand, palmitate was excluded almost completely from the 2-position in the 1-acylglycerophosphoethanolamine acyltransferase systems in lung and liver. These observations provide an enzymatic basis for describing the formation of pulmonary surfactant lipids in rat via acyltransferase systems.