Homeostasis of phospholipids - The level of phosphatidylethanolamine tightly adapts to changes in ethanolamine plasmalogens.

Ethanolamine plasmalogens constitute a group of ether glycerophospholipids that, due to their unique biophysical and biochemical properties, are essential components of mammalian cellular membranes. Their importance is emphasized by the consequences of defects in plasmalogen biosynthesis, which in humans cause the fatal disease rhizomelic chondrodysplasia punctata (RCDP). In the present lipidomic study, we used fibroblasts derived from RCDP patients, as well as brain tissue from plasmalogen-deficient mice, to examine the compensatory mechanisms of lipid homeostasis in response to plasmalogen deficiency. Our results show that phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), a diacyl glycerophospholipid, which like ethanolamine plasmalogens carries the head group ethanolamine, is the main player in the adaptation to plasmalogen insufficiency. PE levels were tightly adjusted to the amount of ethanolamine plasmalogens so that their combined levels were kept constant. Similarly, the total amount of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in ethanolamine phospholipids was maintained upon plasmalogen deficiency. However, we found an increased incorporation of arachidonic acid at the expense of docosahexaenoic acid in the PE fraction of plasmalogen-deficient tissues. These data show that under conditions of reduced plasmalogen levels, the amount of total ethanolamine phospholipids is precisely maintained by a rise in PE. At the same time, a shift in the ratio between ω-6 and ω-3 PUFAs occurs, which might have unfavorable, long-term biological consequences. Therefore, our findings are not only of interest for RCDP but may have more widespread implications also for other disease conditions, as for example Alzheimer's disease, that have been associated with a decline in plasmalogens.

Impaired neurotransmission in ether lipid-deficient nerve terminals.

Isolated defects of ether lipid (EL) biosynthesis in humans cause rhizomelic chondrodysplasia punctata type 2 and type 3, serious peroxisomal disorders. Using a previously described mouse model [Rodemer, C., Thai, T.P., Brugger, B., Kaercher, T., Werner, H., Nave, K.A., Wieland, F., Gorgas, K., and Just, W.W. (2003) Inactivation of ether lipid biosynthesis causes male infertility, defects in eye development and optic nerve hypoplasia in mice. Hum. Mol. Genet., 12, 1881-1895], we investigated the effect of EL deficiency in isolated murine nerve terminals (synaptosomes) on the pre-synaptic release of the neurotransmitters (NTs) glutamate and acetylcholine. Both Ca(2+)-dependent exocytosis and Ca(2+)-independent efflux of the transmitters were affected. EL-deficient synaptosomes respire at a reduced rate and exhibit a lowered adenosin-5'-triphosphate/adenosine diphosphate (ATP/ADP) ratio. Consequently, ATP-driven processes, such as synaptic vesicle cycling and maintenance of Na(+), K(+) and Ca(2+) homeostasis, might be disturbed. Analyzing reactive oxygen species in EL-deficient neural and non-neural tissues revealed that plasmalogens (PLs), the most abundant EL species in mammalian central nervous system, considerably contribute to the generation of the lipid peroxidation product malondialdehyde. Although EL-deficient tissue contains less lipid peroxidation products, fibroblasts lacking ELs are more susceptible to induced oxidative stress. In summary, these results suggest that due to the reduced energy state of EL-deficient tissue, the Ca(2+)-independent efflux of NTs increases while the Ca(2+)-dependent release declines. Furthermore, lack of PLs is mainly compensated for by an increase in the concentration of phosphatidylethanolamine and results in a significantly lowered level of lipid peroxidation products in the brain cortex and cerebellum.

Peroxisomal alterations in Alzheimer's disease.

In Alzheimer's disease (AD), lipid alterations are present early during disease progression. As some of these alterations point towards a peroxisomal dysfunction, we investigated peroxisomes in human postmortem brains obtained from the cohort-based, longitudinal Vienna-Transdanube Aging (VITA) study. Based on the neuropathological Braak staging for AD on one hemisphere, the patients were grouped into three cohorts of increasing severity (stages I-II, III-IV, and V-VI, respectively). Lipid analyses of cortical regions from the other hemisphere revealed accumulation of C22:0 and very long-chain fatty acids (VLCFA, C24:0 and C26:0), all substrates for peroxisomal ß-oxidation, in cases with stages V-VI pathology compared with those modestly affected (stages I-II). Conversely, the level of plasmalogens, which need intact peroxisomes for their biosynthesis, was decreased in severely affected tissues, in agreement with a peroxisomal dysfunction. In addition, the peroxisomal volume density was increased in the soma of neurons in gyrus frontalis at advanced AD stages. Confocal laser microscopy demonstrated a loss of peroxisomes in neuronal processes with abnormally phosphorylated tau protein, implicating impaired trafficking as the cause of altered peroxisomal distribution. Besides the original Braak staging, the study design allowed a direct correlation between the biochemical findings and the amount of neurofibrillary tangles (NFT) and neuritic plaques, quantified in adjacent tissue sections. Interestingly, the decrease in plasmalogens and the increase in VLCFA and peroxisomal volume density in neuronal somata all showed a stronger association with NFT than with neuritic plaques. These results indicate substantial peroxisome-related alterations in AD, which may contribute to the progression of AD pathology.