scholarly journals Regulation of cholesterol synthesis in the liver and mammary gland of the lactating rat

1983 ◽  
Vol 212 (3) ◽  
pp. 843-848 ◽  
Author(s):  
G F Gibbons ◽  
C R Pullinger ◽  
M R Munday ◽  
D H Williamson

The activity of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase (HMG-CoA reductase; EC 1.1.1.34) in the lactating mammary gland of rats killed between 10:00 and 14:30 h was 2-3 times that in the livers of the same animals. In contrast, after injection of 3H2O in vivo, the rate of appearance of 3H in the cholesterol of the gland was much lower than that in the liver. In the mammary gland of virgin and non-lactating animals, the activity of HMG-CoA reductase was less than 10% of that of the lactating gland. The activity of HMG-CoA reductase in the lactating mammary gland was significantly (P less than 0.005) lower at midnight than at mid-day, and appeared to show an inverse relationship to the activity of the liver enzyme. However, there was no corresponding change in the incorporation of 3H into the gland cholesterol. Withdrawal of food for 6h had no effect on the activity of HMG-CoA reductase in the lactating mammary gland, but resulted in a significant decrease (P less than 0.005) in that of the liver. Starvation of lactating rats for 24h produced a significant decrease (P less than 0.005) in the activity of the enzyme in both organs. There was also a significant decline in the rate at which 3H2O was incorporated in vivo into the cholesterol of both organs (liver, P less than 0.05; gland, P less than 0.005). Giving a high-fat palatable diet together with chow to lactating animals led to a decline in HMG-CoA reductase activity in the mammary gland, but not in liver. This decrease in the gland was not accompanied by a corresponding decline in the apparent rate of cholesterol synthesis.

1984 ◽  
Vol 219 (2) ◽  
pp. 461-470 ◽  
Author(s):  
D D Patel ◽  
C R Pullinger ◽  
B L Knight

The true rate of cholesterogenesis in cultured monocyte-macrophages was determined from the incorporation of [2-14C]acetate into cholesterol, using the desmosterol (cholesta-5,24-dien-3 beta-ol) that accumulated in the presence of the drug triparanol to estimate the specific radioactivity of the newly formed sterols. It was shown that this procedure could be successfully adapted for use with cultured monocytes despite the accumulation of other unidentified biosynthetic intermediates. In cells maintained in 20% (v/v) whole serum approx. 25% of the sterol carbon was derived from exogenous acetate. Cholesterol synthesis was as high in normal cells as in cells from homozygous familial hypercholesterolaemic (FH) subjects and accounted for 50% of the increase in cellular cholesterol. The addition of extra low-density lipoprotein (LDL) reduced cholesterol synthesis, apparently through a decrease in the activity of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase (HMG-CoA reductase). When incubated in lipoprotein-deficient serum some cells did not survive, but those that remained showed a normal increase in protein content; the amount of cellular protein and cholesterol in each well did not increase and cholesterol synthesis was reduced by over 80%. HMG-CoA reductase activity fell less dramatically and the proportion of sterol carbon derived from exogenous acetate increased, suggesting that the low rate of cholesterogenesis with lipoprotein-deficient serum was due to a shortage of substrate. The results indicate that under normal conditions monocyte-macrophages obtain cholesterol from endogenous synthesis rather than through receptor-mediated uptake of LDL, and that synthesis together with non-saturable uptake of LDL provides the majority of the cholesterol required to support growth.


1988 ◽  
Vol 252 (2) ◽  
pp. 395-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
C Marco de la Calle ◽  
G F Gibbons

In rats fed on a diet containing 1% cholesterol for 24 h, the decrease in hepatic non-saponifiable lipid synthesis, cholesterogenesis and 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA (HMG-CoA) reductase activity was accompanied by an increase in the proportion of newly synthesized polar sterols in vivo. In these animals there was also a strong inverse correlation between the proportion of polar sterols in the non-saponifiable lipid and hepatic HMG-CoA reductase activity. A similar correlation was not observed in animals fed on a normal diet. Cholesterogenesis in the intestine was not as sensitive to inhibition by dietary cholesterol as was that in the liver, and there was no increase in the polar-sterol content of the newly synthesized non-saponifiable-lipid fraction.


1985 ◽  
Vol 249 (5) ◽  
pp. G634-G641 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. R. Feingold ◽  
A. H. Moser

Previous studies have demonstrated that cholesterol synthesis is increased twofold in the small intestines of rats with streptozotocin-induced diabetes. The purpose of the present study was to determine the effect of adding glucose or fructose to standard rat chow on cholesterol synthesis in control and diabetic rats. In control rats a 25% glucose or fructose diet fed for 21 days markedly inhibited hepatic cholesterol synthesis in the liver. In contrast, in diabetic animals only fructose inhibited hepatic cholesterol synthesis. In both control and diabetic animals the addition of these simple sugars to the diet did not markedly alter extrahepatic cholesterol synthesis. The enhancement of small intestinal cholesterol synthesis observed in diabetic animals was present regardless of the dietary manipulations. Further studies demonstrated that the addition of smaller concentrations of fructose (10%) to standard rat chow decreased hepatic cholesterol synthesis in both control and diabetic rats. Similarly the addition of fructose to the diet of control and diabetics for a period as short as 2 days was also sufficient to inhibit hepatic cholesterol synthesis. In both control and diabetic animals, fructose feeding decreased hepatic 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase activity but did not alter the percentage of HMG-CoA reductase in the active form. Finally, the intestinal hypertrophy and stimulation of intestinal cholesterogenesis that are characteristic of streptozotocin-induced diabetes occurred when either glucose or fructose was the sole caloric source.


1987 ◽  
Vol 248 (3) ◽  
pp. 993-996 ◽  
Author(s):  
R A Easom ◽  
V A Zammit

1. The expressed and total (completely dephosphorylated) activities of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA (HMG-CoA) reductase were measured in microsomal fractions isolated from cold-clamped liver samples from female rats in various stages of the reproductive cycle. 2. There was little change in total HMG-CoA reductase activity during pregnancy and early lactation, but after 2 days post partum there was a marked increase in total activity. 3. The expressed/total activity ratio of HMG-CoA reductase showed a profound decrease during the last 2 days of pregnancy. The fraction of the enzyme in the active form increased progressively during the first 2 days of lactation. 4. The combined effect of these changes was that the expressed activity of HMG-CoA reductase changed in parallel with the known changes in the hepatic rate of cholesterogenesis during pregnancy and lactation in vivo.


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