RESUMO
We recently reported that lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) knock-out mice, particularly in the LDL receptor knock-out background, are hypersensitive to insulin and resistant to high fat diet-induced insulin resistance (IR) and obesity. We demonstrated that chow-fed Ldlr-/-xLcat+/+ mice have elevated hepatic endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, which promotes IR, compared with wild-type controls, and this effect is normalized in Ldlr-/-xLcat-/- mice. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that hepatic ER cholesterol metabolism differentially regulates ER stress using these models. We observed that the Ldlr-/-xLcat+/+ mice accumulate excess hepatic total and ER cholesterol primarily attributed to increased reuptake of biliary cholesterol as we observed reduced biliary cholesterol in conjunction with decreased hepatic Abcg5/g8 mRNA, increased Npc1l1 mRNA, and decreased Hmgr mRNA and nuclear SREBP2 protein. Intestinal NPC1L1 protein was induced. Expression of these genes was reversed in the Ldlr-/-xLcat-/- mice, accounting for the normalization of total and ER cholesterol and ER stress. Upon feeding a 2% high cholesterol diet (HCD), Ldlr-/-xLcat-/- mice accumulated a similar amount of total hepatic cholesterol compared with the Ldlr-/-xLcat+/+ mice, but the hepatic ER cholesterol levels remained low in conjunction with being protected from HCD-induced ER stress and IR. Hepatic ER stress correlates strongly with hepatic ER free cholesterol but poorly with hepatic tissue free cholesterol. The unexpectedly low ER cholesterol seen in HCD-fed Ldlr-/-xLcat-/- mice was attributable to a coordinated marked up-regulation of ACAT2 and suppressed SREBP2 processing. Thus, factors influencing the accumulation of ER cholesterol may be important for the development of hepatic insulin resistance.
Assuntos
Colesterol/metabolismo , Estresse do Retículo Endoplasmático , Deficiência da Lecitina Colesterol Aciltransferase/metabolismo , Fígado/metabolismo , Fosfatidilcolina-Esterol O-Aciltransferase , Receptores de LDL/metabolismo , Membro 5 da Subfamília G de Transportadores de Cassetes de Ligação de ATP , Membro 8 da Subfamília G de Transportadores de Cassetes de Ligação de ATP , Transportadores de Cassetes de Ligação de ATP/biossíntese , Transportadores de Cassetes de Ligação de ATP/genética , Animais , Colesterol/genética , Gorduras na Dieta/efeitos adversos , Gorduras na Dieta/farmacologia , Retículo Endoplasmático/genética , Retículo Endoplasmático/metabolismo , Retículo Endoplasmático/fisiologia , Regulação da Expressão Gênica/genética , Resistência à Insulina/genética , Deficiência da Lecitina Colesterol Aciltransferase/genética , Deficiência da Lecitina Colesterol Aciltransferase/patologia , Lipoproteínas/biossíntese , Lipoproteínas/genética , Fígado/patologia , Proteínas de Membrana Transportadoras/biossíntese , Proteínas de Membrana Transportadoras/genética , Camundongos , Camundongos Knockout , RNA Mensageiro/biossíntese , RNA Mensageiro/genética , Receptores de LDL/genética , Esterol O-Aciltransferase/genética , Esterol O-Aciltransferase/metabolismo , Proteína de Ligação a Elemento Regulador de Esterol 2/genética , Proteína de Ligação a Elemento Regulador de Esterol 2/metabolismo , Esterol O-Aciltransferase 2RESUMO
Complete lecithin cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) deficiency uniformly results in a profound HDL deficiency. We recently reported unexpected enhanced insulin sensitivity in LCAT knock-out mice in the LDL receptor knock-out background (Ldlr(-/-)×Lcat(-/-); double knock-out (DKO)), when compared with their Ldlr(-/-)×Lcat(+/+) (single knock-out (SKO)) controls. Here, we report that LCAT-deficient mice (DKO and Lcat(-/-)) are protected against high fat high sucrose (HFHS) diet-induced obesity without hypophagia in a gender-specific manner compared with their respective (SKO and WT) controls. The metabolic phenotypes are more pronounced in the females. Changes in endoplasmic reticulum stress were examined as a possible mechanism for the metabolic protection. The female DKO mice developed attenuated HFHS-induced endoplasmic reticulum stress as evidenced by a lack of increase in mRNA levels of the hepatic unfolded protein response (UPR) markers Grp78 and CHOP compared with SKO controls. The DKO female mice were also protected against diet-induced insulin resistance. In white adipose tissue of chow-fed DKO mice, we also observed a reduction in UPR, gene markers for adipogenesis, and markers for activation of Wnt signaling. In skeletal muscles of female DKO mice, we observed an unexpected increase in UCP1 in association with increase in phospho-AMPKα, PGC1α, and UCP3 expressions. This increase in UCP1 was associated with ectopic islands of brown adipocytes between skeletal muscle fibers. Our findings suggest that LCAT deficiency confers gender-specific protection against diet-induced obesity and insulin resistance at least in part through regulation in UPR, white adipose tissue adipogenesis, and brown adipocyte partitioning.
