The effects of choline deficiency and choline re-feeding upon the metabolism of plasma and liver lipids.
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Choline-deficiency causes liver cells to die by apoptosis, and it has not been clear whether the effects of choline-deficiency are mediated by methyl-deficiency or by lack of choline moieties. SV40 immortalized CWSV-1 hepatocytes were cultivated in media that were choline-sufficient, choline-deficient, choline-deficient with methyl-donors (betaine or methionine), or choline-deficient with extra folate/vitamin B12. Choline-deficient CWSV-1 hepatocytes were not methyl-deficient as they had increased intracellular S-adenosylmethionine concentrations (132% of control; P < 0.01). Despite increased phosphatidylcholine synthesis via sequential methylation of phosphatidylethanol-amine, choline-deficient hepatocytes had significantly decreased (P < 0.01) intracellular concentrations of choline (20% of control), phosphocholine (6% of control), glycerophosphocholine (15% of control), and phosphatidylcholine (55% of control). Methyl-supplementation in choline-deficiency enhanced intracellular methyl-group availability, but did not correct choline-deficiency induced abnormalities in either choline metabolite or phospholipid content in hepatocytes. Methyl-supplemented, choline-deficient cells died by apoptosis. In a rat study, 2 weeks of a choline deficient diet supplemented with betaine did not prevent the occurrence of fatty liver and the increased DNA strand breakage induced by choline-deficiency. Though dietary supplementation with betaine restored hepatic betaine concentration and increased hepatic S-adenosylmethionine/S-adenosylhomocysteine ratio, it did not correct depleted choline (15% of control), phosphocholine (6% control), or phosphatidylcholine (48% of control) concentrations in deficient livers. These data show that decreased intracellular choline and/or choline metabolite concentrations, and not methyl deficiency, are associated with apoptotic death of hepatocytes.
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Choline deficiency, via deprivation of labile methyl groups, is associated with a greatly increased incidence of hepatocarcinoma in experimental animals. This dietary deficiency also causes fatty liver, because choline is needed for hepatic secretion of lipoproteins. We hypothesized that fatty liver might be associated with the accumulation of 1,2-sn-diradylglycerol and subsequent activation of protein kinase C. Several lines of evidence indicate that cancers might develop secondary to abnormalities in protein kinase C-mediated signal transduction. We observed that rats fed a choline-deficient diet for 1, 6, or 27 weeks had increased hepatic concentrations of 1,2-diradylglycerol. At 1 and 6 weeks, hepatic plasma membrane from choline-deficient rats had increased concentrations of 1,2-sn-diacylglycerol and 1-alkyl, 2-acylglycerol, with the latter accounting for 20-26% of membrane 1,2-sn-diradylglycerol (as compared with only 2-5% in controls). Protein kinase C activity was increased in hepatic plasma membrane at 1 week of choline deficiency. By Western blotting there was an increase in the amount of protein kinase C zeta and a decrease in the amount of protein kinase C delta in liver at 1 week. By 6 weeks of choline deficiency, hepatic plasma membrane and cytosolic protein kinase C (PKC) activities were increased significantly, with increased amounts of hepatic plasma membrane protein kinase C alpha, and delta detected by Western blotting. Glycogen synthase activity in liver was diminished after 1 week of choline deficiency; this enzyme is inhibited by PKC-mediated phosphorylation. We suggest that choline deficiency perturbed PKC-mediated transmembrane signaling within liver and that this contributed to the development of hepatic cancer in these animals.
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Progressive liver fibrosis in rats develops when they are fed a diet deficient in choline. This diet also results in a pronounced and selective decrease in the liver microsomal content of a phase I drug-metabolizing enzyme belonging to the cytochrome P-450III gene family. Because P-450III cytochromes characteristically catalyze the N-demethylation of erythromycin, we believed that the production of breath CO2 from erythromycin would be dramatically reduced in choline-deficient rats. However, when 12 choline-deficient rats were compared with 9 control rats, the reduction in CO2 production from erythromycin (mean decrease 71%) was essentially identical to that from aminopyrine (mean decrease 69%), a substrate believed to be metabolized normally by the hepatocyte in fibrotic liver disease. Furthermore, we found that the relative erythromycin and aminopyrine demethylase activities were comparable when measured in vitro in liver microsomes prepared from the choline-deficient rats. To determine the molecular basis for the erythromycin demethylase activity in the choline-deficient rats, the liver microsomes were subjected to immunoblot analysis using a variety of polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies capable of distinguishing individual P-450III-related proteins. Our studies confirm that a major erythromycin demethylase belonging to the P-450III family, termed P-450p, was greatly reduced in the choline-deficient rat liver. However, the specific concentration of a second P-450p-related protein was essentially normal and that of a third P-450p-related protein was actually increased in the choline-deficient rat liver.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
The effect of choline deficiency on the kinetic properties of the microsomal enzyme UDP-glucuronyltransferase (EC2.4.1.17) was investigated in rats. Animals fed choline-deficient diets, as compared with animals fed a choline-replete diet or standard laboratory chow, showed almost a three-fold increase in enzyme activity when the enzyme was assayed at physiological concentrations of UDP-glucuronic acid (0.25 mM). The increase in activity appeared to be due to an enhanced affinity of the enzyme for UDP-glucuronic acid rather than to an increase in the amount of enzyme. These data indicate that the kinetic properties of tightly bound membrane enzymes are altered by a dietary change that is known to cause liver disease in the rat.
Choline is a required nutrient, and some humans deplete quickly when fed a low-choline diet, whereas others do not. Endogenous choline synthesis can spare some of the dietary requirement and requires one-carbon groups derived from folate metabolism. We examined whether major genetic variants of folate metabolism modify susceptibility of humans to choline deficiency. Fifty-four adult men and women were fed diets containing adequate choline and folate, followed by a diet containing almost no choline, with or without added folate, until they were clinically judged to be choline-deficient, or for up to 42 days. Criteria for clinical choline deficiency were a more than five times increase in serum creatine kinase activity or a >28% increase of liver fat after consuming the low-choline diet that resolved when choline was returned to the diet. Choline deficiency was observed in more than half of the participants, usually within less than a month. Individuals who were carriers of the very common 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase-1958A gene allele were more likely than noncarriers to develop signs of choline deficiency (odds ratio, 7.0; 95% confidence interval, 2.0-25; P < 0.01) on the low-choline diet unless they were also treated with a folic acid supplement. The effects of the C677T and A1298C polymorphisms of the 5,10-methylene tetrahydrofolate reductase gene and the A80C polymorphism of the reduced folate carrier 1 gene were not statistically significant. The most remarkable finding was the strong association in premenopausal women of the 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase-1958A gene allele polymorphism with 15 times increased susceptibility to developing organ dysfunction on a low-choline diet.
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A diet deficient in choline can cause liver cancer in rats. The previous work since 1932 emphasized the fat-removing ability of choline from the liver. There are other dietary factors, including methionine, which, like choline, can remove fat from the liver. These factors were termed as lipotropes. Since then, choline deficiency and lipotrope deficiency are used synonoumously. Recent work since 1980 has clearly demonstrated that choline deficiency (CD) and lipotrope deficiency (LD) are not the same. Generation of free radicals, DNA alterations, liver cell death, and liver cancer that occur due to CD are not generated by LD. Generation of free radicals due to CD diet and some of the agents that counteract free radical action also prevent CD effects except for lipid accumulation in the liver. Despite the recent observations on the role of phospholipase A2 (PLA2) as the protector of the membranes, it has been found that by preventing the rise of PLA2 in the liver, cell death can be prevented. These new findings give choline a distinct role in liver cell death and cancer rather than the role of lipotrope. A new hypothesis linking dietary choline deficiency and liver cancer has been discussed.
Injection of choline-(3)H into choline-deficient rats resulted in an enhanced incorporation of the label into liver lecithin, as compared to the incorporation of label into liver lecithin of normal rats. The results obtained with the use of different lecithin precursors indicate that in the intact liver cell, both in vivo and in vitro, exchange of choline with phosphatidyl-choline is not significant. The synthesis and secretion of lecithins by the choline-deficient liver compare favorably with the liver of choline-supplemented rats, when both are presented with labeled choline or lysolecithin as lecithin precursors. Radioautography of the choline-deficient liver shows that 5 min after injection of choline-(3)H the newly synthesized lecithin is found in the endoplasmic reticulum (62%), mitochondria (13%), and at the "cell boundary" (20%). The ratio of the specific activity of microsomal and mitochondrial lecithin, labeled with choline, glycerol, or linoleate, was 1.53 at 5 min after injection, but the ratio of the specific activity of phosphatidyl ethanolamine (PE), labeled with ethanolamine, was 5.3. These results indicate that lecithin and PE are synthesized mainly in the endoplasmic reticulum, and are transferred into mitochondria at different rates. The site of a precursor pool of bile lecithin was studied in the intact rat and in the perfused liver. Following labeling with choline-(3)H, microsomal lecithin isolated from perfused liver had a specific activity lower than that of bile lecithin, but the specific activity of microsomal linoleyl lecithin was comparable to that of bile lecithin between 30 and 90 min of perfusion. It is proposed that the site of the bile lecithin pool is located in the endoplasmic reticulum and that the pool consists mostly of linoleyl lecithin.
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The effect of choline deficiency on the de novo pathway for phosphatidylcholine (PC) synthesis in the lung was investigated in rats fed a washed soy protein (lipotrophic) diet deficient in choline and methionine for 2-3 wk. Lungs from lipotrophic rats showed a decreased content of choline and choline-phosphate (P less than 0.05) compared with control but no change in content of cytidine 5'-diphosphocholine or PC. Isolated perfused lungs from lipotrophic rats were evaluated for choline and fatty acid utilization for PC synthesis. Lipotrophic lungs perfused with 5 microM [14C-methyl]-choline chloride showed increased incorporation into PC while there was no significant effect at saturating levels of choline (100 microM). There was increased incorporation of [1-14C]-palmitic acid into PC and diglyceride and increased incorporation of D-[U-14C]glucose into fatty acids of PC. Increased choline and glucose incorporation was not due to alteration of intracellular specific activity of these substrates. This study indicates the utilization of choline and fatty acid for PC synthesis is stimulated as a result of choline deficiency while lung CDP-choline concentration is maintained, possibly through regulation of choline phosphate cytidyl transferase activity. These mechanisms compensate for decreased choline availability to maintain the PC content of lungs.
Feeding rats a diet deficient in choline results in fatty liver within 1 d. We studied the effect of short-term (1-3 d) choline deficiency on rat liver Z protein (fatty acid-binding protein). Groups of three females Sprague-Dawley rats were fed ad libitum a purified diet lacking choline and L-methionine or were supplemented with 0.2% choline chloride and 0.82% L-methionine. Animals were killed after 1, 2 or 3 d of consuming control or experimental diets and hepatic Z protein was prepared. Z protein in livers from experimental and control rats were estimated with the fluorescent probe dansylamino undecanoic acid. The corresponding fatty acid-binding activity was also determined. One day of choline-deficient diet increased Z protein concentration threefold, reaching a plateau on the second and third day. Fatty acid-binding activity of Z protein remained unchanged.
Rats fed a choline-deficient diet develop foci of enzyme-altered hepatocytes with subsequent formation of hepatic tumors. They also develop fatty livers, because choline is needed for hepatic secretion of lipoproteins. We have previously reported that 1,2-sn-diradylglycerol accumulates in the livers of rats fed a choline-deficient diet for 1-27 weeks, and that protein kinase C activity in the hepatic plasma membrane is elevated during that time (da Costa et al., J. Biol. Chem., 268, 2100-2105, 1993). In the present study, we examined the changes that occur in rat liver at 52 weeks of choline deficiency and determined whether these changes were reversible when choline was returned to the diet of the deficient animals for 1 or 16 weeks. At 52 weeks, non-tumor liver samples from the experimental animals had increased 1,2-sn-diradylglycerol concentrations in the lipid droplets compared with control animals. Plasma membrane 1,2-sn-diradylglycerol levels in the liver did not differ between the two groups, but an age-related increase in membrane 1,2-sn-diradylglycerol concentrations was observed. Unsaturated free fatty acids, another activator of protein kinase C, accumulated in the deficient livers. Protein kinase C activity associated with the plasma membrane remained significantly elevated at 52 weeks in deficient livers. Hepatic foci expressing gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase were detected only in the deficient rats (0.83% of liver volume) and 15% of these rats had hepatocellular carcinoma at 1 year on the diet. At 53 weeks (1 week after choline was returned to the deficient group), 1,2-sn-diradylglycerol concentrations in the lipid droplets and hepatic free fatty acids had dropped to control levels. By 68 weeks (16 weeks of re-feeding choline), the membrane protein kinase C activity had returned to normal. At this time, 14% of the experimental animals had hepatocellular carcinoma. We suggest that choline deficiency altered the protein kinase C-mediated signal transduction within liver and this contributed to hepatic carcinogenesis in these animals.