Insulin suppresses the AMPK signaling pathway to regulate lipid metabolism in primary cultured hepatocytes of dairy cows

Dairy cows with type II ketosis display hepatic fat accumulation and hyperinsulinemia, but the underlying mechanism is not completely clear. This study aimed to clarify the regulation of lipid metabolism by insulin in cow hepatocytes. In vitro, cow hepatocytes were treated with 0, 1, 10, or 100 nm insulin in the presence or absence of AICAR (an AMP-activated protein kinase alpha (AMPKα) activator). The results showed that insulin decreased AMPKα phosphorylation. This inactivation of AMPKα increased the gene and protein expression levels of carbohydrate responsive element-binding protein (ChREBP) and sterol regulatory element-binding protein-1c (SREBP-1c), which downregulated the expression of lipogenic genes, thereby decreasing lipid biosynthesis. Furthermore, AMPKα inactivation decreased the gene and protein expression levels of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-α (PPARα), which upregulated the expression of lipid oxidation genes, thereby increasing lipid oxidation. In addition, insulin decreased the very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) assembly. Consequently, triglyceride content was significantly increased in insulin treated hepatocytes. Activation of AMPKα induced by AICAR could reverse the effect of insulin on PPARα, SREBP-1c, and ChREBP, thereby decreasing triglyceride content. These results indicate that insulin inhibits the AMPKα signaling pathway to increase lipid synthesis and decrease lipid oxidation and VLDL assembly in cow hepatocytes, thereby inducing TG accumulation. This mechanism could partly explain the causal relationship between hepatic fat accumulation and hyperinsulinemia in dairy cows with type II ketosis.

Acetoacetic acid induces oxidative stress to inhibit the assembly of very low density lipoprotein in bovine hepatocytes

Dairy cows with fatty liver or ketosis exhibit hyperketonemia, oxidative stress, and a low rate of very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) assembly, and there may be a potential link among these characteristics. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the effect of acetoacetic acid (AcAc) on the assembly of VLDL in cow hepatocytes. Cultured cow hepatocytes were treated with different concentrations of AcAc with or without N-acetylcysteine (NAC, an antioxidant). AcAc treatment decreased the mRNA expression and activities of antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), and significantly increased malondialdehyde (MDA) content, indicative of oxidative stress. Furthermore, AcAc treatment significantly down-regulated the mRNA expression of apolipoprotein B100 (ApoB100), apolipoprotein E (ApoE), and low density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR), which thus decreased VLDL assembly and increased triglyceride (TG) accumulation in these bovine hepatocytes. Importantly, NAC relieved AcAc-induced oxidative stress and increased VLDL assembly. In summary, these results suggest that AcAc-induced oxidative stress affects the assembly of VLDL, which increases TG accumulation in bovine hepatocytes.

Abstract 540: Very Low Density Lipoprotein Assembly is Required for cAMP Responsive Element-binding Protein H Processing and Hepatic Apolipoprotein A-IV Expression in Mouse Models of Acute Steatosis

Background: Our previous studies have demonstrated that hepatic expression of apolipoprotein A-IV (apoA-IV) is increased in mouse models of chronic steatosis and is closely correlated with hepatic triglyceride (TG) content. We have also shown that steatosis-induced hepatic apoA-IV gene expression is regulated by processing of the nuclear transcription factor cAMP responsive element-binding protein H (CREBH). Herein, we explored the mechanisms that mediate steatosis-induced CREBH processing. Methods: We measured hepatic CREBH processing, apoA-IV gene expression, and lipid content in several mouse models of attenuated or enhanced VLDL assembly that were subjected to acute steatosis induced by a 16 hour overnight fast or by feeding a ketogenic diet for 6 days. Results: Both fasting and the ketogenic diet induced acute hepatic TG accumulation associated with increased CREBH processing and apoA-IV gene expression, which were associated with hepatic TG content in C57BL/6 mice. All mouse models of attenuated VLDL secretion (shRNA-induced apoB knock down, liver specific microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTP) knockout, treatment with the MTP inhibitor BMS212122, and comparative gene identification-58 (CGI-58) deficiency) had increased hepatic TG accumulation, but displayed repressed CREBH processing and reduced apoA-IV gene expression compared to controls. When deficient VLDL assembly in liver-specific MTP knockout mice was reconstituted by adenoviral infection with a human MTP transgene, steatosis-induced CREBH processing and apoA-IV expression were restored. In a mouse model of enhanced VLDL assembly (transgenic overexpression of human MTP), apoA-IV gene expression correlated with bulk hepatic TG accumulation, but not with VLDL secretion rate, indicating that other steatosis-related factors participate in apoA-IV gene regulation. Conclusions: Taken together, these data provide compelling evidence that VLDL assembly and secretion is required for hepatic CREBH processing and enhanced apoA-IV gene expression in the setting of acute steatosis. These data further suggest that CREBH and apoA-IV play central roles in VLDL-mediated hepatic lipid efflux.

Identification of protein disulfide isomerase 1 as a key isomerase for disulfide bond formation in apolipoprotein B100

Apolipoprotein (apo) B is an obligatory component of very low density lipoprotein (VLDL), and its cotranslational and posttranslational modifications are important in VLDL synthesis, secretion, and hepatic lipid homeostasis. ApoB100 contains 25 cysteine residues and eight disulfide bonds. Although these disulfide bonds were suggested to be important in maintaining apoB100 function, neither the specific oxidoreductase involved nor the direct role of these disulfide bonds in apoB100-lipidation is known. Here we used RNA knockdown to evaluate both MTP-dependent and -independent roles of PDI1 in apoB100 synthesis and lipidation in McA-RH7777 cells. Pdi1 knockdown did not elicit any discernible detrimental effect under normal, unstressed conditions. However, it decreased apoB100 synthesis with attenuated MTP activity, delayed apoB100 oxidative folding, and reduced apoB100 lipidation, leading to defective VLDL secretion. The oxidative folding–impaired apoB100 was secreted mainly associated with LDL instead of VLDL particles from PDI1-deficient cells, a phenotype that was fully rescued by overexpression of wild-type but not a catalytically inactive PDI1 that fully restored MTP activity. Further, we demonstrate that PDI1 directly interacts with apoB100 via its redox-active CXXC motifs and assists in the oxidative folding of apoB100. Taken together, these findings reveal an unsuspected, yet key role for PDI1 in oxidative folding of apoB100 and VLDL assembly.

Impaired VLDL assembly: a novel mechanism contributing to hepatic lipid accumulation following ovariectomy and high-fat/high-cholesterol diets?

The aim of the present study was to identify molecular mechanisms involved in liver fat and cholesterol accumulation in ovariectomised (Ovx) rats fed with high-cholesterol diets. VLDL assembly and bile acid metabolism were specifically targeted. After being either Ovx or sham-operated, the rats were fed a standard diet or a high-fat diet containing 0, 0·25 or 0·5 % cholesterol for 6 weeks. Although Ovx rats exposed to dietary cholesterol intake accumulated the greatest amount of hepatic fat and cholesterol, plasma cholesterol levels were lower (P< 0·05) in these animals than in the corresponding control rats. Accompanying this observation, ovariectomy and dietary cholesterol intake resulted in a down-regulation (P< 0·05) of the expression of genes associated with VLDL assembly, including microsomal TAG transfer protein, diacylglycerol acyltransferase 2, acyl-CoA:cholesterol acyltransferase 2 and apoB-100 as well as genes associated with bile acid metabolism including farnesoid X receptor and bile salt export pump (P< 0·01). These results indicate that high-fat/high-cholesterol diets and ovariectomy concomitantly disrupt hepatic lipid output through defects in VLDL assembly and, most probably, secretion. The results also point to a defect in hepatic bile acid secretion. The present study offers novel insights into intrahepatic lipid metabolism, which may be relevant to metabolic complications found in postmenopausal women.

Abstract 418: Bifunctional Role of Autophagy in Intracellular ApoB Degradation and Lipid Droplet Mobilization

Introduction: As apolipoprotein B (apoB) is translated and translocated into the ER, lipids from cytoplasmic lipid droplets (LDs) are added to promote folding and to initiate very-low-density-lipoprotein (VLDL) assembly. However, without sufficient lipid availability, apoB is misfolded and subject to proteasomal degradation. Evidence now shows that apoB can also be degraded through autophagy under certain conditions, and that LDs are also subject to autophagic degradation, a process referred to as lipophagy. We postulate that apoB autophagy and LD lipophagy integrate to regulate hepatic lipid export and VLDL production. Methods/Results: Studies were conducted in vitro using the human hepatoma cell line, HepG2 and ex vivo using primary Syrian Golden hamster hepatocytes. Cells were fat loaded with/without 0.4 mM OA for 4 hours and simultaneously treated with an autophagy inhibitor 3-methyadenine (3-MA; 100uM) or an autophagy inducer, Torin 1 (250nM). HepG2 cells were transfected with 10 nM of atg12 siRNA, an essential autophagy related gene, for a total of 72 hours. In freshly isolated primary hamster hepatocytes, inhibition of autophagosome formation, through treatment with 3-MA, significantly increased cellular levels of newly synthesized apoB, without a significant increase in apoB secreted into the media. Interestingly, treating these cells with Torin 1 to promote autophagy also significantly increased apoB recovery. However, modulation of autophagy activity also affected the average number of LDs per cell, indicating that lipophagy activity had also been modified, potentially affecting VLDL formation. Conversely, while inhibition and induction of autophagy in HepG2 cells, a human hepatoma cell line, reduced and increased apoB co-localization with autophagosomes respectively, siRNA knockdown of atg12 as well as 3-MA treatment decreased apoB recovery. However, this did not appear to be due to reduction in LD breakdown through autophagy. The data obtained with primary hamster hepatocytes suggest that autophagy may play a dual role in VLDL assembly in vivo by regulating both degradation of apoB and lipidation of VLDL particles through mobilization of lipid from LDs. Defects in these pathways can induce hepatic LD accumulation and steatosis.