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Cholesterol, synaptic function and Alzheimer's disease.

We experimentally modeled neuronal cholesterol imbalance by creating an acute biochemical increase in cholesterol turnover in rat hippocampal slices. This kind of experimental set-up impairs the redistribution of cholesterol from one cell to another via lipoprotein transport. While increasing cholesterol removal or immediately afterwards, we evoked and recorded two brain waveforms, paired pulse facilitation (PPF) and long-term potentiation (LTP), which indicate neurotransmission and synaptic plasticity, respectively. We found that the lack of cholesterol supply to neurons impaired both PPF and LTP. From additional immunofluorescent analysis of the slices, we could demonstrate that the cholesterol imbalance also caused neurodegeneration of hippocampal neural cell processes and the appearance of tau protein pathology in the mossy fibers. We also analyzed rats fed a cholesterol diet and discovered that they had increased hippocampal cholesterol biosynthesis and impaired LTP. Cholesterol-fed rats were also characterized by Alzheimer's-like brain amyloid that we did not observe in the model of acute cholesterol imbalance. Our data and research by others suggest that biological cholesterol homeostasis dysregulation itself plays a key role in synaptic plasticity impairment and neuronal degeneration, and is the primary cause for several Alzheimer's disease hallmarks not limited to brain amyloids. Moreover, changes in the neurochemistry of amyloid beta, tau, neuronal cytoskeleton, and oxidative stress reactions due to Alzheimer's likely represent physiological transitory mechanisms that aim to compensate impaired brain cholesterol dynamics and/or associated neurotransmission and synaptic plasticity failure. Part of this article was published as netprint and is available under the URL http://clinmed.netprints.org/cgi/content/full/2001100005v1.

Acetates↗

The levels of soluble amyloid beta in different high density lipoprotein subfractions distinguish Alzheimer's and normal aging cerebrospinal fluid: implication for brain cholesterol pathology?

Several previous studies reported the association of the soluble form of amyloid beta (sA beta) protein, a major constituent of amyloid deposits in Alzheimer's disease (AD), with normal blood, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and central nervous system high density lipoproteins (HDLs). The present report aimed to elucidate the pattern of sA beta and apolipoprotein (apo) distribution in AD CSF-HDL subfractions. We studied AD CSF-HDL subfractions by SDS/PAGE and immunoblot analysis after CSF fractionation via density flotation ultracentrifugation. AD CSF was characterized by (i) increased sA beta and apo content of the HDL(1), and (ii) sA beta association with apoE and apoJ in HDL(2), HDL(3) and very high density lipoproteins. The finding supports our proposed hypothesis that upregulation of brain cholesterol dynamics is a fundamental event in the pathophysiology of AD and that sA beta binding to apo and lipid may have important structure-functional consequences.

Alzheimer Disease↗

Dynamics of phosphatidylcholine-cholesterol mixed model membranes in the liquid crystalline state.

The effects of cholesterol on the dynamics of cholestane spin probe (CSL) in various phosphatidylcholine-cholesterol mixed model membranes are examined. The lateral diffusion, D of CSL in DMPC/POPC/cholesterol ternary mixtures, is measured utilizing an improved dynamic imaging electron spin resonance method. It shows a factor of two decrease at 10 mol % and 25 degrees C, whereas it shows only a 40% decrease at 50 mol % and 50 degrees C. A comparison with results in POPC/cholesterol mixtures, which show a stronger effect of cholesterol on D, indicates that acyl chain unsaturation leads to stronger self association of cholesterol in PC model membranes. An S2CSL dependence of the activation energy for D, has been confirmed for the DMPC/POPC/cholesterol mixtures. Here SCSL is the order parameter for CSL. A similar correlation of R perpendicular, the perpendicular component of the rotational diffusion coefficient, with SCSL, which is true for all three mixtures (DMPC/cholesterol, POPC/cholesterol, and DMPC/POPC/cholesterol) we have studied, is also found. These are associated with the effects of enhanced local ordering on the free volume needed for translation and reorientation. Such correlations of dynamic properties D and R perpendicular with the thermodynamic quantity S, as well as the consistent interpretations of the effect of acyl chain unsaturation on the dynamics in terms of the activity coefficients, strongly emphasize the interrelation between the dynamic structure and the thermodynamics of the PC/cholesterol mixtures.

Cholesterol↗

Composition and morphology of lipid droplets from oviduct epithelial cells.

This study was undertaken to determine the composition and morphology of lipid droplets in situ and isolated from oviductal epithelial cells and oviductal fluid. Oviductal epithelial cells were harvested enzymatically from oviducts of cows in either the luteal or the follicular stages of the ovarian cycle. Lipid droplets were isolated from cellular homogenates and characterized biochemically using thin layer chromatography. The morphology of lipid droplets in oviductal epithelial cells and in fractions isolated by ultracentrifugation from cellular homogenates was examined by electron microscopy. Lipid droplets isolated from oviduct epithelial cells varied in composition with the ovarian cycle and the oviductal region. There was more total lipid in droplets isolated from cows in the luteal than follicular phase of the ovarian cycle. Most of this difference was due to large amounts of esterified cholesterol present in the samples from luteal-stage animals. The most esterified cholesterol was found in droplets isolated from the oviductal isthmus of luteal cows. Droplets similar in lipid composition to those isolated from epithelial cells were found in oviductal fluid. Four distinct types of lipid inclusions were evident in electron micrographs of oviductal epithelia and characterized as osmiophilic droplets, lipofuscin-like clusters, lamellar structures, and composite bodies. All of the lipid inclusions were found in droplet isolates except for the extracted lipid portion of the composite body. The presence and diversity of oviduct epithelial lipid inclusions suggest that the oviductal epithelium may be very active in lipid metabolism, particularly cholesterol dynamics.

Animals↗

Isolation and identification of a mouse brain protein recognized by antisera to heart fatty acid-binding protein.

Although a novel brain-specific fatty acid-binding protein (B-FABP) was recently cloned, the identity of a second fatty acid-binding protein detected with antibodies to the heart (H-FABP) has not been clearly resolved. The present investigation, using matrix-assisted laser desorption mass spectrometry, showed that this protein was a form of H-FABP whose N-terminal amino acid was neither methionine nor was it acetylated. Furthermore, isoelectric focusing revealed two major isoforms, a major band pl 7.4 and a minor band pl 6.4, in a distribution pattern opposite to that observed for H-FABP in the heart. Tryptic peptide mass maps of the in-gel digested SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis protein bands showed that the two isoforms differed only in a single peptide corresponding to residues 97-106 of the heart H-FABP sequence. This peptide had an [M + H]+ ion of either 1205.62 (pl 7.4) or 1206.53 (pl 6.4), consistent with a single amino acid substitution, Asp98 or Asn98. Whereas it is well established that both H-FABP and B-FABP interact with polyunsaturated fatty acids, we showed that they also significantly alter plasma membrane cholesterol dynamics in a manner opposite to that of another brain lipid-binding protein, sterol carrier protein-2. In summary, the data demonstrated for the first time that the H-FABP from brain, while nearly identical to H-FABP from heart, differed significantly in isoform distribution and in amino terminal structure from heart H-FABP. This suggests that the brain and heart H-FABP may not necessarily function identically in these tissues.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

[The dynamics of [3H]-cholesterol incorporation into the liver and aortic tissue of guinea pigs on long-term ethanol administration].

The effect of ethanol administration to guinea pigs (4 g/kg, per os) on the dynamics of [3H]-cholesterol incorporation into the liver and aorta tissues was studied for 3 months. It has been discovered that specific radioactivity of the control animals linearly increased during 24 hours in the blood serum. Ethanol reduced it as compared with the control only 0.5 h after a label has been introduced. Cholesterol renovation in the liver remained unchanged under the prolonged effect of ethanol. In the aorta the ethanol effect was characterized by a decrease of [3H]-cholesterol specific radioactivity 0.5 h after its administration. However, in this case the ratio of aorta/blood serum radioactivity increased. A day after the labelled cholesterol administration to alcoholized animals the radioactivity calculated per 1 mg of cholesterol and per unit of tissue weight and referred to the blood serum radioactivity was lower as compared to the control level.

Alcoholism↗

Use of 131I-19-cholesterol in functional dynamic studies of the adrenals in vivo. II. Clinical application.

Functional dynamic studies of the adrenal in vivo employing 131I-19-cholesterol were carried out as a further screening test, according to the method previously described (Pavonia and Magrini, 1977), on seven patients in whom hyperadrenocorticism was suspected on the basis of clinical symptoms. The data obtained in basal conditions, under ACTH stimulation, and under dexamethasone suppression, compared with each other and supported by the results of conventional examinations, demonstrate that the quantitative information provided by this radioisotope test is correlated with the functional state of each adrenal, thus confirming the potential value of the method for diagnostic purposes. The functional dynamic test proposed does not require a higher dose of tracer than morphologic studies and the radiation risk (approximately 2.5 rad to the ovaries or gonads) seems acceptable in adult subjects.

Adenoma↗

Cholesterol biosynthesis and modulation of membrane cholesterol and lipid dynamics in rat intestinal microvillus membranes.

Experiments were performed to test the hypothesis that cholesterol biosynthesis in the rat ileal enterocyte, the major absorptive cell lining the distal epithelium of the small intestine, can modulate the cholesterol content and the motional freedom of the plasma membrane lipids. Decreased sterol biosynthesis in vivo was elicited by feeding sodium taurocholate or by fasting the rats, whereas increased synthesis was induced by biliary ligation or feeding cholestyramine, a bile salt binding resin; these effects were monitored by assay of mucosal 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase. After each procedure, isolated microvillus membranes were examined to determine the lipid composition and the fluorescence anisotropy of 1,6-diphenyl-1,3,5-hexatriene. The results demonstrate that variations in cholesterol biosynthesis in vivo can modulate the cholesterol content and the motional freedom of the lipids of the microvillus membrane; similar effects were not observed on the basolateral membrane. The observations suggest that the normal pattern of decreased lipid motional freedom in microvillus membranes of the distal as compared to the proximal small intestine of the rat results from higher rates of cholesterol biosynthesis in the distal mucosa.

Animals↗

Behavior of cholesterol and its effect on head group and chain conformations in lipid bilayers: a molecular dynamics study.

Cholesterol molecules were put into a computer-modeled hydrated bilayer of dimyristoyl phosphatidyl choline molecules, and molecular dynamics simulations were run to characterize the effect of this important molecule on membrane structure and dynamics. The effect was judged by observing differences in order parameters, tilt angles, and the fraction of gauche bonds along the hydrocarbon chains between lipids adjacent to cholesterol molecules and comparing them with those further away. It was observed that cholesterol causes an increase in the fraction of trans dihedrals and motional ordering of chains close to the rigid steroid ring system with a decrease in the kink population. The hydrogen-bonding interactions between cholesterol and lipid molecules were determined from radial distribution calculations and showed the cholesterol hydroxyl groups either solvated by water, or forming hydrogen bond contacts with the oxygens of lipid carbonyl and phosphate groups. The dynamics and conformation of the cholesterol molecules were investigated and it was seen that they had a smaller tilt with respect to the bilayer normal than the lipid chains and furthermore that the hydrocarbon tail of the cholesterol was conformationally flexible.

Biophysical Phenomena↗

Dynamics of reverse cholesterol transport: protection against atherosclerosis.

This review considers the antiatherogenic function of high density lipoprotein (HDL) from the point of view of its dynamics within the sequential steps of reverse cholesterol transport (RCT). It is postulated that the efficiency of cholesterol flux through the RCT pathways is clinically more relevant than the HDL cholesterol concentration. The particular role of pre-beta(1)-HDL is reviewed drawing attention to the relationship between its concentration and the flux of cholesterol through the RCT system.

Animals↗

[Cholesterol and bile acid dynamics: comparative aspects].

While the cholesterol concentration in a given tissue is similar in the rat, pig or man, the relative importance of the processes regulating the input (absorption and synthesis) and output (faecal cholesterol and bile acid excretions) of the cholesterol system is very different from one species to another. The rat, whose cholesterolaemia does not significantly increase after cholesterol addition to the diet ("hyporesponding" animal), successfully adapts its bile acid biosynthesis to variations in cholesterol input. This process accounts for 80 to 85% of cholesterol output, faecal cholesterol excretion being a minor process. The latter results from a low liver cholesterol secretion in the bile due to the low hydrophobicity of its main bile acids. Furthermore, in this animal a high intestinal synthesis of cholesterol and apolipoproteins (particularly B48) is observed. The latter are secreted as very light lipoproteins (chylomicrons and VLDL) with a faster plasma turnover than the VLDL (apoB100, E...) secreted by the liver. The "remnants" of rat VLDL are essentially very rapidly taken up by the liver; their interplasmatic transformation pathway into IDL and LDL is not very significant (less than or equal to 10%). Man, who has a more significant hypercholesterolaemia after exogenous cholesterol ingestion ("hyperresponding" subject) seems to have a less modulable capacity for transforming cholesterol into bile acids. This process accounts for only 50% of cholesterol output, faecal cholesterol excretion being quantitatively just as significant. Cholesterol concentration and the cholesterol/bile acid ratio are much higher in human than in rat bile, the main bile acids being more hydrophobic. While both the intestine and liver contribute to cholesterogenesis, the relative importance of the latter is probably greater in man than in the rat. Moreover, a larger fraction of plasma VLDL is transformed into IDL and LDL, the latter representing the main plasma cholesterol carrier. Determining whether the differences between the biodynamics of cholesterol processes in the rat and in man can be generalised to mammals with low or high sensitivities to hypercholesterolaemia and atherosclerosis seems to be a fundamental research objective for the next few years.

Animals↗

The effect of cholesterol on lipid dynamics and packing in diether phosphatidylcholine bilayers. X-ray diffraction and 2H-NMR study.

In order to compare the lipid packing, conformation and dynamics of ether- and ester-linked phosphatidylcholines in the presence of equimolar concentrations of cholesterol, multilamellar dispersions of these lipid-sterol mixtures were investigated by X-ray diffraction and 2H-NMR. A comparison of the X-ray diffraction patterns at 22 degrees C of 1,2-di-O-hexadecyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DHPC) and 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DPPC) dispersion, each containing 50 mol% cholesterol, demonstrate that the structural characteristics of DHPC and DPPC bilayers in the presence of cholesterol are essentially indistinguishable by X-ray diffraction. In contradistinction to the similar structural characteristics of DHPC and DPPC in the presence of cholesterol, the low-angle lamellar reflections of DHPC at 22 degrees C in the absence of cholesterol are indicative of an interdigitated phase, demonstrating that cholesterol facilitates the conversion from an interdigitated to a non-interdigitated phase. Above Tc in each lipid-sterol mixture, the quadrupolar splittings from the alpha-methylene segments of 1,2[1',1'-2H]DHPC and 1,2[2',2'-2H2]DPPC indicate that both chain inequivalence and magnetic inequivalence of any particular alpha-C2H2 deuteron pair are preserved and actually enhanced in the presence of cholesterol. Lowering of the temperature below Tc in 1,2[2',2'-2H2]DPPC/cholesterol dispersion leads to a progressive intensity loss of the sn-2 chain components, a thermotropic effect which is not observed in the corresponding components of the 1,2[1',1'-2H2]DHPC/cholesterol spectra.

1,2-Dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine↗

Structure of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine/cholesterol bilayer at low and high cholesterol concentrations: molecular dynamics simulation.

By using molecular dynamics simulation technique we studied the changes occurring in membranes constructed of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) and cholesterol at 8:1 and 1:1 ratios. We tested two different initial arrangements of cholesterol molecules for a 1:1 ratio. The main difference between two initial structures is the average number of nearest-neighbor DPPC molecules around the cholesterol molecule. Our simulations were performed at constant temperature (T = 50 degrees C) and pressure (P = 0 atm). Durations of the runs were 2 ns. The structure of the DPPC/cholesterol membrane was characterized by calculating the order parameter profiles for the hydrocarbon chains, atom distributions, average number of gauche defects, and membrane dipole potentials. We found that adding cholesterol to membranes results in a condensing effect: the average area of membrane becomes smaller, hydrocarbon chains of DPPC have higher order, and the probability of gauche defects in DPPC tails is lower. Our results are in agreement with the data available from experiments.

1,2-Dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine↗

Cholesterol orientation and dynamics in dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine bilayers: a solid state deuterium NMR analysis.

Proton decoupled deuterium NMR spectra of oriented bilayers made of DMPC and 30 mol % deuterated cholesterol acquired at 76.8 MHz (30 degreesC) have provided a set of very accurate quadrupolar splitting for eight C-D bonds of cholesterol. Due to the new precision of the experimental data, the original analysis by. Biochemistry. 23:6062-6071) had to be reconsidered. We performed a systematic study of the influence on the precision and uniqueness of the data-fitting procedure of: (i) the coordinates derived from x-ray, neutron scattering, or force field-minimized structures, (ii) internal mobility, (iii) the axial symmetry hypothesis, and (iv) the knowledge of some quadrupolar splitting assignments. Good agreement between experiment and theory could be obtained only with the neutron scattering structure, for which both axial symmetry hypothesis and full order parameter matrix analysis gave satisfactory results. Finally, this work revealed an average orientation of cholesterol slightly different from those previously published and, most importantly, a molecular order parameter equal to 0.95 +/- 0.01, instead of 0.79 +/- 0.03 previously found for the same system at 30 degreesC. Temperature dependence in the 20-50 degreesC range shows a constant average orientation and a monotonous decrease of cholesterol Smol, with a slope of -0.0016 K-1. A molecular order parameter of 0.89 +/- 0.01 at 30 degreesC was determined for a DMPC/16 mol % of cholesterol.

Biophysical Phenomena↗

[Effect of alimentary cholesterol loading on dynamics of serum testosterone and estradiol in rats ].

Some background mechanisms of the sex hormones changes in blood serum of the male rats under the alimentary loading by cholesterol during 21 weeks were investigated. Results suggested that in the conditions of the cholesterol loading estradiol level in the experimental rats was higher than similar indexes in animals of a control group. In relation to the testosterone level the later was lower during 12 weeks while since 15 week it exceeded the control levels. The possible mechanisms of redistribution in the biosynthesis of steroid hormones in the conditions of loading by cholesterol are discussed.

Administration, Oral↗