Glutamate-oxaloacetate transaminase activity promotes palmitate lipotoxicity in rat hepatocytes by enhancing anaplerosis and citric acid cycle flux.

Hepatocyte lipotoxicity is characterized by aberrant mitochondrial metabolism, which predisposes cells to oxidative stress and apoptosis. Previously, we reported that translocation of calcium from the endoplasmic reticulum to mitochondria of palmitate-treated hepatocytes activates anaplerotic flux from glutamine to α-ketoglutarate (αKG), which subsequently enters the citric acid cycle (CAC) for oxidation. We hypothesized that increased glutamine anaplerosis fuels elevations in CAC flux and oxidative stress following palmitate treatment. To test this hypothesis, primary rat hepatocytes or immortalized H4IIEC3 rat hepatoma cells were treated with lipotoxic levels of palmitate while modulating anaplerotic pathways leading to αKG. We found that culture media supplemented with glutamine, glutamate, or dimethyl-αKG increased palmitate lipotoxicity compared with media that lacked these anaplerotic substrates. Knockdown of glutamate-oxaloacetate transaminase activity significantly reduced the lipotoxic effects of palmitate, whereas knockdown of glutamate dehydrogenase (Glud1) had no effect on palmitate lipotoxicity. 13C flux analysis of H4IIEC3 cells co-treated with palmitate and the pan-transaminase inhibitor aminooxyacetic acid confirmed that reductions in lipotoxic markers were associated with decreases in anaplerosis, CAC flux, and oxygen consumption. Taken together, these results demonstrate that lipotoxic palmitate treatments enhance anaplerosis in cultured rat hepatocytes, causing a shift to aberrant transaminase metabolism that fuels CAC dysregulation and oxidative stress.

Knockdown of triglyceride synthesis does not enhance palmitate lipotoxicity or prevent oleate-mediated rescue in rat hepatocytes.

Experiments in a variety of cell types, including hepatocytes, consistently demonstrate the acutely lipotoxic effects of saturated fatty acids, such as palmitate (PA), but not unsaturated fatty acids, such as oleate (OA). PA+OA co-treatment fully prevents PA lipotoxicity through mechanisms that are not well defined but which have been previously attributed to more efficient esterification and sequestration of PA into triglycerides (TGs) when OA is abundant. However, this hypothesis has never been directly tested by experimentally modulating the relative partitioning of PA/OA between TGs and other lipid fates in hepatocytes. In this study, we found that addition of OA to PA-treated hepatocytes enhanced TG synthesis, reduced total PA uptake and PA lipid incorporation, decreased phospholipid saturation and rescued PA-induced ER stress and lipoapoptosis. Knockdown of diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT), the rate-limiting step in TG synthesis, significantly reduced TG accumulation without impairing OA-mediated rescue of PA lipotoxicity. In both wild-type and DGAT-knockdown hepatocytes, OA co-treatment significantly reduced PA lipid incorporation and overall phospholipid saturation compared to PA-treated hepatocytes. These data indicate that OA's protective effects do not require increased conversion of PA into inert TGs, but instead may be due to OA's ability to compete against PA for cellular uptake and/or esterification and, thereby, normalize the composition of cellular lipids in the presence of a toxic PA load.

Enhanced synthesis of saturated phospholipids is associated with ER stress and lipotoxicity in palmitate treated hepatic cells.

High levels of saturated FAs (SFAs) are acutely toxic to a variety of cell types, including hepatocytes, and have been associated with diseases such as type 2 diabetes and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. SFA accumulation has been previously shown to degrade endoplasmic reticulum (ER) function leading to other manifestations of the lipoapoptotic cascade. We hypothesized that dysfunctional phospholipid (PL) metabolism is an initiating factor in this ER stress response. Treatment of either primary hepatocytes or H4IIEC3 cells with the SFA palmitate resulted in dramatic dilation of the ER membrane, coinciding with other markers of organelle dysfunction. This was accompanied by increased de novo glycerolipid synthesis, significant elevation of dipalmitoyl phosphatidic acid, diacylglycerol, and total PL content in H4IIEC3 cells. Supplementation with oleate (OA) reversed these markers of palmitate (PA)-induced lipotoxicity. OA/PA cotreatment modulated the distribution of PA between lipid classes, increasing the flux toward triacylglycerols while reducing its incorporation into PLs. Similar trends were demonstrated in both primary hepatocytes and the H4IIEC3 hepatoma cell line. Overall, these findings suggest that modifying the FA composition of structural PLs can protect hepatocytes from PA-induced ER stress and associated lipotoxicity.

Palmitate-induced activation of mitochondrial metabolism promotes oxidative stress and apoptosis in H4IIEC3 rat hepatocytes.

OBJECTIVE: Hepatic lipotoxicity is characterized by reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation, mitochondrial dysfunction, and excessive apoptosis, but the precise sequence of biochemical events leading to oxidative damage and cell death remains unclear. The goal of this study was to delineate the role of mitochondrial metabolism in mediating hepatocyte lipotoxicity. MATERIALS/METHODS: We treated H4IIEC3 rat hepatoma cells with free fatty acids in combination with antioxidants and mitochondrial inhibitors designed to block key events in the progression toward apoptosis. We then applied (13)C metabolic flux analysis (MFA) to quantify mitochondrial pathway alterations associated with these treatments. RESULTS: Treatment with palmitate alone led to a doubling in oxygen uptake rate and in most mitochondrial fluxes. Supplementing culture media with the antioxidant N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC) reduced ROS accumulation and caspase activation and partially restored cell viability. However, (13)C MFA revealed that treatment with NAC did not normalize palmitate-induced metabolic alterations, indicating that neither elevated ROS nor downstream apoptotic events contributed to mitochondrial activation. To directly limit mitochondrial metabolism, the complex I inhibitor phenformin was added to cells treated with palmitate. Phenformin addition eliminated abnormal ROS accumulation, prevented the appearance of apoptotic markers, and normalized mitochondrial carbon flow. Further studies revealed that glutamine provided the primary fuel for elevated mitochondrial metabolism in the presence of palmitate, rather than fatty acid beta-oxidation, and that glutamine consumption could be reduced through co-treatment with phenformin but not NAC. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that ROS accumulation in palmitate-treated H4IIEC3 cells occurs downstream of altered mitochondrial oxidative metabolism, which is independent of beta-oxidation and precedes apoptosis initiation.

ER calcium release promotes mitochondrial dysfunction and hepatic cell lipotoxicity in response to palmitate overload.

Palmitate overload induces hepatic cell dysfunction characterized by enhanced apoptosis and altered citric acid cycle (CAC) metabolism; however, the mechanism of how this occurs is incompletely understood. We hypothesize that elevated doses of palmitate disrupt intracellular calcium homeostasis resulting in a net flux of calcium from the ER to mitochondria, activating aberrant oxidative metabolism. We treated primary hepatocytes and H4IIEC3 cells with palmitate and calcium chelators to identify the roles of intracellular calcium flux in lipotoxicity. We then applied (13)C metabolic flux analysis (MFA) to determine the impact of calcium in promoting palmitate-stimulated mitochondrial alterations. Co-treatment with the calcium-specific chelator BAPTA resulted in a suppression of markers for apoptosis and oxygen consumption. Additionally, (13)C MFA revealed that BAPTA co-treated cells had reduced CAC fluxes compared to cells treated with palmitate alone. Our results demonstrate that palmitate-induced lipoapoptosis is dependent on calcium-stimulated mitochondrial activation, which induces oxidative stress.

Molecular mechanisms and the role of saturated fatty acids in the progression of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

The steady rise in Western obesity rates has been closely linked to significant increases in a multitude of accompanying health problems including non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). NAFLD severity ranges from simple steatosis to acute steatohepatitis, but the molecular mechanisms controlling progression of this disease are poorly understood. Recent literature suggests that elevated free fatty acids (FFAs), especially saturated FFAs, may play an important role in lipotoxic mechanisms, both in experimental models and in NAFLD patients. This review highlights important cellular pathways involved in hepatic lipotoxicity and how the degree of intrahepatic lipid saturation controls cell fate in response to an elevated FFA load. Relevant cellular processes that have been causally linked to lipid-induced apoptosis, known as lipoapoptosis, include endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, and Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) signaling. In contrast, increased triglyceride synthesis has been shown to have a protective effect against lipotoxicity, despite being one of the hallmark traits of NAFLD. Developing a more nuanced understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying NAFLD progression will lead to more targeted and effective therapeutics for this increasingly prevalent disease, which to date has no proven pharmacologic treatment to prevent or reverse its course.