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Biomedical subjects

C Cassagne

Publications and source records attributed to C Cassagne.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Acetyl-CoA carboxylase gene expression in the developing mouse brain. Comparison with other genes involved in lipid biosynthesis.

The present study documents the steady-state levels for the mRNAs encoding acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC), fatty acid synthase (FAS), stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD2) and brain long-chain acyl-CoA synthetase (BLACS) during mouse brain development. It is shown that ACC and FAS mRNA levels are at a maximum 5 days after birth, a time when cell proliferation is intense in the mouse brain, and then decrease steadily to reach 20% of those maximal values at day 20. The ACC transcript isoforms, which were detected in the central nervous system (CNS), originated from promoter P2 of the ACC gene. They encode ACC enzymes which cannot be phosphorylated at the Ser-1200 locus, thus indicating that brain ACC is highly sensitive to citrate activation. The developmental pattern for the SCD2 mRNA level is different from that of true myelin genes, such as CGT. Indeed, the steady-state levels for SCD2 and CGT in 5-day-old brain represent 85% and 5% of their maximal values, respectively. BLACS expression rose during the developmental period studied, but a slow decrease in the mRNA levels was not observed after postnatal day 20, unlike in "myelin-specific' genes. Therefore, it appears that the expression of the genes involved in fatty acid biosynthesis is independent of the myelinating signal in the mouse CNS.

Acetyl-CoA Carboxylase

Occurrence of an acyl-CoA:1-acylglycerophosphorylcholine acyltransferase in plant mitochondria.

In the presence of oleoyl-CoA, purified and intact mitochondria from potato tuber formed phosphatidylcholine from labeled lysophosphatidylcholine. The labeled oleoyl moiety of the acyl-CoA was also incorporated in the absence of exogenous lysolipids, such incorporation being largely increased by the addition of exogenous lysophosphatidylcholine. In the presence of various other lysophospholipids, no synthesis of the corresponding phospholipids was observed, suggesting a high specificity of the acyltransferase towards the acyl acceptor. This enzyme was chiefly located in the outer membrane of mitochondria. These results indicate that any acylglycerophosphorylcholine transferred from the endoplasmic reticulum to mitochondria may be acylated to phosphatidylcholine.

1-Acylglycerophosphocholine O-Acyltransferase

Acylation of endogenous acyl acceptors by mouse sciatic nerve microsomes.

Phospholipid (chiefly phosphatidylcholine) labeling from radioactive acyl-CoAs by mouse sciatic nerve microsomes is observed in the absence of added acyl acceptors. The maximal acylation (ca 10% of administered) for 10 micrograms microsomal proteins is observed at relatively low amounts of oleoyl-CoA (0.2-0.3 nmol) and decreases as the acyl-CoA amount increases. Labeled lysophosphatidylcholine (almost exclusively esterified at position 2) is also observed, particularly when the [1-14C]oleoyl-CoA concentration is higher than 0.2-0.3 nmol/50 microliters. The labeled acyl group is mainly inserted in position 2] of the glycerophosphorylcholine. With 0.15 nmol labeled oleoyl-CoA, phosphatidylcholine acylation increases as a function of the protein amount and reaches 25% of the added label at 40 microgram proteins. It is evaluated that, in the presence of 10 microgram proteins, 2% of the microsomal phosphatidylcholine molecules are acylated from 0.1 nmol acyl-CoA. The acylation mechanism seems to involve an acyl exchange between acyl-CoA and phosphatidylcholine.

Acyl Coenzyme A

Changes in phospholipid composition of blood cell membranes (erythrocyte, platelet, and polymorphonuclear) in different types of diabetes--clinical and biological correlations.

A variety of disorders of erythrocyte, platelet, and polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMN) functions have been described in diabetes. The phospholipid composition of erythrocyte, platelet, and PMN membranes from controls and from type I and II diabetics was investigated in this study. Phospholipids were determined by densitometry using the molybdenum blue reagent. In diabetics, the relative abundance of phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) increased in all cell types studied, whereas those of sphingomyelin (Sph) and phosphatidylcholine (PC) were decreased in platelets and PMN. The percentage of phosphatidylserine (PS) was reduced in erythrocytes but increased in platelets. The level of Sph in PMN was significantly lower in type I than in type II diabetics. Moreover, the longer the duration of diabetes and the poorer the metabolic control, the greater the decrease in Sph. Rheological parameters, which reflect the behavior of red blood cells (RBC), were correlated with the alteration in PE/PS ratio in these cells.

Adult

Expression of the exon 1A-containing PMP22 transcript is altered in the trembler mouse.

The trembler mouse suffers from a dominantly inherited mutation of the peripheral myelin protein 22 (PMP22) gene which results in an abnormal myelination of its peripheral nervous system. The recent identification of two different PMP22 mRNA differing in their 5' non-translated region led us to monitor their respective levels of expression in the trembler peripheral nervous system (PNS) during the myelination period. We showed that the steady-state levels of the exon 1A-containing transcript, which is thought to be involved in the myelination process, were greatly reduced in heterozygous and homozygous trembler mice when compared to the normal animals. Such a difference was not observed for the exon 1B-containing transcript. Therefore, our results support the idea that the two alternatively used promoters of the PMP22 gene are under different regulation control, and that the up-regulation of the exon 1A-transcript is necessary for the normal myelination of the mouse PNS.

Animals

Immunogold labelling of fatty acyl chains.

For the first time, antibodies against a hydrophobic hapten have been used for immunogold labelling of a lipid antigen (BSA-C18:1 conjugate) coated on polystyrene. The labelling was visualised either directly in transmission electron microscopy or in light microscopy after silver enhancement. Good recognition of the fatty acyl chain was obtained even after treatment of the antigen coat with various cross-linking fixatives used for electron microscopy, i.e. formaldehyde, glutaraldehyde and osmium tetroxide.

Fatty Acids

Specific inhibition of plant fatty acid elongation by a long-chain cerulenin analogue.

Cerulenin analogues with 16 or 18 carbon atoms inhibit both ATP-dependent and acyl-CoA-dependent fatty acid elongations. Prior incubation of microsomes with inhibitors is necessary to obtain maximal inhibition. The analogues act on the first reaction of the elongation process catalysed by the 3-ketoacyl-CoA synthase. The 18-carbon analogue has no, or little, effect on the fatty acid synthesis, while cerulenin and its 16-carbon analogue totally inhibit this synthesis. The 18-carbon analogue appears to be a specific inhibitor of the synthesis of very long-chain fatty acids, with no effect on de novo fatty acid synthesis.

Cerulenin

Synthesis of phosphatidylcholine in the chloroplast envelope after import of lysophosphatidylcholine from endoplasmic reticulum membranes.

Purified, intact chloroplasts from Allium porrum seedlings are able to synthesize phosphatidylcholine by acylating lysophosphatidylcholine (but not glycerophosphocholine) with acyl-CoAs. The acyltransferase activity is located in the envelope of chloroplasts. It is specific for lysophosphatidylcholine and the neosynthesized lipids have a C18 fatty acid esterified to the sn-2 position of the glycerol backbone ('eukaryotic lipids'). By preincubating endoplasmic reticulum membranes with labeled lysophosphatidylcholine, it was shown that this molecule could be transferred by a partition process from the endoplasmic reticulum to chloroplasts where they are acylated to yield phosphatidylcholine.

Acyl Coenzyme A

Cerebroside formation in the peripheral nervous system of normal and Trembler mice.

The formation of cerebrosides by the galactosylation of ceramides was investigated in a microsomal fraction prepared from sciatic nerves of normal and Trembler mice. In the control, cerebroside synthesis is observed in the presence of uridine-diphosphate-galactose both from endogenously synthesized [1-14C]stearoyl-sphingosine (C18-ceramide), and from [1-14C]lignoceroyl-sphingosine (C24-ceramide). Cerebroside formation is also demonstrated by studying the galactosylation of exogenous ceramides with UDP[1-14C]-galactose. In the mutant, only trace amounts of labeled cerebrosides are formed from labeled stearoyl-sphingosine, whereas with lignoceroyl-sphingosine, no cerebroside synthesis is detected under conditions allowing their formation in the control. However, a higher rate of synthesis of short acyl chain-glucosyl ceramides is observed in the Trembler samples.

Animals

Sphingolipid metabolic disorders in Trembler mouse peripheral nerves in vivo result from an abnormal substrate supply.

Sphingolipid metabolic pathways in the peripheral nerves of dysmyelinating Trembler mice were studied in vivo, using intraneurally injected [3H]palmitate as the exogenous substrate. The kinetic analysis of the experimental data obtained for the mutant revealed that, as in normal nerves, two metabolically and kinetically independent pathways are implicated in the biosynthesis of the major peripheral nerve sphingolipids: the ceramide pathway and another pathway in which there is no detectable labeled intermediate ("direct amidification"). The results also show that, in the Trembler mouse sciatic nerves: (a) The severely deficient sphingolipid biosynthesis results from the constitution of a qualitatively and quantitatively abnormal fatty acid substrate pool destined for metabolism via the ceramide pathway, which ensures the totality of the galactocerebroside labeling and two-thirds of that of sphingomyelin. The ceramide intermediates of this pathway are labeled only on their fatty acyl moiety, which contains only 16-carbon atom chains. (b) "Direct amidification" events implicated in sphingolipid labeling are decreased compared with normal and account for the remaining sphingomyelin formation.

Animals

Peripheral nerve sphingomyelin and cerebroside are both formed via two metabolically and kinetically distinct pathways in vivo.

We have studied the labeling kinetics of peripheral nerve sphingolipids in vivo. The kinetic analysis of the labeling profiles observed for the various sphingolipids demonstrated that 90% of cerebrosides, but only 30% of sphingomyelin, were synthesized via a de novo synthesized ceramide intermediate following the injection of 1-4 pmol [3H]palmitate into mouse sciatic nerves. The remaining sphingolipid labeling (30% of the total) was due to direct acylation events, using free fatty acids originating from a pool different from those implicated in the de novo ceramide pathway. Direct acylation events ceased within 1 h following substrate administration, while labeling via the ceramide pathway continued through 5 h. The results provide the first in vivo demonstration that the formation of cerebrosides and sphingomyelin in peripheral nerves in situ can be simultaneously assured via two metabolically and kinetically distinct pathways that employ different fatty acid pools.

Acylation

Expression of the ceramide galactosyltransferase gene during myelination of the mouse nervous system. Comparison with the genes encoding myelin basic proteins, choline kinase and CTP:phosphocholine cytidylyltransferase.

The present study documents the patterns of mRNA expression for the ceramide galactosyltransferase (CGT), the CTP:phosphocholine cytidylyltransferase (CT), and the choline kinase (CK) during the myelination period of the mouse central nervous system (CNS) and peripheral nervous system (PNS). Using the Northern blot technique with densitometric analyses, we show that the CK gene is not developmentally regulated during the period studied, whereas a peak of expression of the CT gene is observed around day 10. On the other hand, the expression of the CGT gene is similar to that of the MBP gene in the CNS and the PNS. Therefore, the synthesis of the galactosylceramides during the myelination period seems to be controlled at the level of the expression of the CGT gene. These results were compared to those of a neurological mutant, the trembler mouse, whose PNS myelination is deficient. Our results clearly indicate that the deficit in the accumulation of the galactosylceramides documented for this mutant is well correlated to a reduced CGT gene expression.

Animals

Effect of low temperatures on the transfer of phospholipids with various acyl-chain lengths to the plasma membrane of leek cells.

The intracellular transport of lipids with very-long-chain acyl moieties (C20-C24 fatty acid-containing lipids) to the plasma membrane of leek cells follows the vesicular ER-Golgi apparatus-plasma membrane pathway. Here we report on the effect of low temperatures on the vesicular transport of lipids and especially C20-C24 fatty acid-containing lipids to the plasma membrane of leek cells. These lipids, normally transported through the ER-Golgi apparatus-plasma membrane pathway at 24 degrees C, accumulated in the ER and the Golgi apparatus at 12 degrees C with a related deficit in the plasma membrane. As lipids with long chain acyl moieties (C16 and C18 fatty acid-containing lipids) were still transferred to the plasma membrane at 12 degrees C, the data demonstrate a specific effect of low temperatures on the vesicular transfer of C20-C24 fatty acid-containing lipids to the plasma membrane of leek cells. Therefore, evidence is provided for distinct pathways and/or mechanisms transferring lipids to the plasma membrane of leek cells which differ in their sensitivity to low temperatures.

Cell Membrane

Cell-free transfer of phospholipids between the endoplasmic reticulum and the Golgi apparatus of leek seedlings.

The transfer of lipids between the endoplasmic reticulum and the Golgi apparatus was investigated in vitro using a cell-free system from leek seedlings. Lipids of the donor membranes (endoplasmic reticulum) were radiolabeled either by incubating leek seedlings with [1-14C]acetate or [3H]acetate. Acceptor membranes (Golgi apparatus) were unlabeled and immobilized on nitrocellulose strips. The assay measured the lipid transfer resulting from both an ATP-independent process and an ATP- and cytosol-dependent process. A significant ATP- and cytosol-dependent lipid transfer was observed only in the case of the endoplasmic reticulum as donor and the Golgi apparatus as acceptor. Lipids transferred in an ATP-dependent manner were chiefly phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylserine. The stimulation of lipid transfer by ATP as compared to the ATP-independent process was +79% (PC), +123% (PS) and +69% (PE). On the other hand, PI was not transferred in an ATP-dependent manner (the stimulation by ATP was only 20%). This supports the theory that a sorting of phospholipids takes place in the donor membrane. Moreover, a formation of lysoPC was observed only in the presence of ATP (+330%). The ATP-dependent lipid transfer was inhibited by N-ethylmaleimide, indicating the involvement of cytosolic (but no phospholipid transfer proteins) or membrane proteins in the transfer process. The ATP-dependent transfer of lipids was also diminished at 12 degrees C showing the sensitivity to low temperatures of the transfer of lipids between the endoplasmic reticulum and the Golgi apparatus.

Adenosine Triphosphate

Acyl transfer reactions associated with cis Golgi apparatus of rat liver.

Isolated Golgi apparatus, highly purified from rat liver, were found to contain an acyl transfer activity capable of restoring the acyl chains of the lysophospholipid products of the action of phospholipase A2 on phosphatidylcholine. The activity was located primarily in cis and medial Golgi apparatus fractions, had a pH optimum of 6.0 to 7.5 and was stimulated by various acyl-CoA derivatives but not by fatty acids plus ATP. The activity, determined from the conversion of [14C]lysophosphatidylcholine to [14C]phosphatidylcholine, was unaffected by EGTA, inhibited by manoalide at high concentrations (0.2 mM), and temperature-dependent. Temperature dependency, however, showed no definite transition temperature over the range 15 to 37 degrees C. The results demonstrated that cis Golgi apparatus membranes have the enzymatic capacity to restore fatty acids lost from phospholipids through the action of phospholipase A. The latter has been previously suggested to occur at the cis Golgi apparatus membranes based on analyses of cell-free transfer of radiolabeled phosphatidylcholine.

1-Acylglycerophosphocholine O-Acyltransferase

Effect of cerulenin on the synthesis of very-long-chain fatty acids in microsomes from leek seedlings.

Cerulenin inhibits the elongation of stearoyl-CoA and eicosanoyl-CoA by microsomes from leek seedlings. The inhibition depends on the cerulenin concentration and affects the biosynthesis of docosanoic and tetracosanoic acids only slightly more than that of eicosanoic acid. A 30-min preincubation of the microsomes with cerulenin allows a quantitative inhibition of the elongation at 50 microM cerulenin (50% inhibition at 15 microM cerulenin). A kinetic study of the elongating activity in the presence or in the absence of the inhibitor suggests that the inhibition is non-competitive. Analysis of the products of the reaction suggests that 3-ketoacyl-CoA synthase is the target of cerulenin. A study of the partial reactions demonstrates that the inhibition affects almost exclusively the condensation step.

Acetyltransferases