Abstract. Lipoprotein lipase (LPL) and glycolipidanchored cAMP-binding ectoprotein (Gcel) are modified by glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol (GPI) in rat adipocytes, however, the linkage is potentially unstable. Incubation of the cells with either insulin (0.1-30 nM) or the sulfonylurea, glimepiride (0.5-20/zM), in the presence of glucose led to conversion of up to 35 and 20%, respectively, of the total amphiphilic LPL and Gcel to their hydrophilic versions. Inositol-phosphate was retained in the residual protein-linked anchor structure. This suggests cleavage of the GPI anchors by an endogenous GPI-specific insulin-and glimepiride-inducible phospholipase (GPI-PL). Despite cleavage, hydrophilic LPL and Creel remained membrane associated and were released only if a competitor, e.g., inositol-(cyclic)monophosphate, had been added. Other constituents of the GPI anchor (glucosamine and mannose) were less efficient. This suggests peripheral interaction of lipolytically cleaved LPL and Gcel with the adipocyte cell surface involving the terminal inositol-(cyclic)monophosphate epitope and presumably a receptor of the adipocyte plasma membrane. In rat adipocytes which were resistant toward glucose transport stimulation by insulin, the sensitivity and responsiveness of GPI-PL to stimulation by insulin was drastically reduced. In contrast, activation of both GPI-PL and glucose transport by the sulfonylurea, glimepiride, was not affected significantly. Inhibition of glucose transport or incubation of rat adipocytes in glucose-free medium completely abolished stimulation of GPI-PL by either insulin or glimepiride. The activation was partially restored by the addition of glucose or nonmetabolizable 2-deoxyglucose. These data suggest that increased glucose transport stimulates a GPI-PL in rat adipocytes.reat body of information exists regarding the structural diversity as well as the biosynthesis and posttranslational attachment of glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol (GPI) ~ structures (for recent reviews see Low, 1989;McConville et al., 1993). However, the functional significance of membrane anchorage via GPI structures versus transmembrane polypeptide domains is still a matter of debate. The accessibility of GPI molecules to cleavage by phospholipase [(G)PI-PL] opens the possibility of a regu-

Sulphonylurea drugs stimulate glucose transport and metabolism in muscle and fat cells in vitro. The molecular basis for the insulin-mimetic extrapancreatic effects of these oral antidiabetic therapeutic agents is unknown at present. Here we demonstrate that incubation of 3T3 adipocytes with the novel sulphonylurea, glimepiride, causes a time- and concentration-dependent release of the glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored ecto-proteins, 5′-nucleotidase, lipoprotein lipase and a 62 kDa cyclic AMP (cAMP)-binding protein from the plasma membrane into the culture medium. The change in the localization is accompanied by conversion of the membrane-anchored amphiphilic proteins into their soluble hydrophilic versions, as judged by pulse-chase experiments and Triton X-114 partitioning, and by appearance of anti-cross-reacting determinant (CRD) immunoreactivity of the released proteins as shown by Western blotting. Metabolic labelling of cells with myo-[14C]inositol demonstrates that inositol is retained in the major portion of released lipoprotein lipase and cAMP-binding ectoprotein. The identification of inositol phosphate after deamination of these proteins with nitrous acid suggests cleavage of their GPI membrane anchor by a GPI-specific phospholipase C. However, after longer incubation with glimepiride the amount of soluble versions of the GPI-proteins lacking inositol and anti-CRD immunoreactivity increases, which may be caused by additional drug-stimulated hydrolytic events within their GPI structure or C-termini. Since insulin also stimulates membrane release of these GPI-modified proteins, and in combination with glimepiride in a synergistic manner, sulphonylurea drugs may exert their peripheral actions in adipose tissue by using (part of) the insulin postreceptor signalling cascade at the step of activation of a GPI-specific phospholipase C.