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Cholesterol metabolism is altered in Rett syndrome: a study on plasma and primary cultured fibroblasts derived from patients.

ABSTRACT: Rett (RTT) syndrome is a severe neurological disorder that affects almost exclusively females. Several detectable mutations in the X-linked methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 gene (MECP2) are responsible for the onset of the disease. MeCP2 is a key transcription regulator involved in gene silencing via methylation-dependent remodeling of chromatin. Recent data highlight that lipid metabolism is perturbed in brains and livers of MECP2-null male mice. In addition, altered plasma lipid profile in RTT patients has been observed. Thus, the aim of the work is to investigate the protein network involved in cholesterol homeostasis maintenance on freshly isolated fibroblasts and plasma from both RTT and healthy donors. To this end, protein expression of 3-hydroxy-3methyl glutaryl Coenzyme A reductase (HMGR), sterol regulatory element binding proteins (SREBPs), low density lipoprotein receptor (LDLr) and scavenger receptor B-1 (SRB-1) was assessed in cultured skin fibroblasts from unaffected individuals and RTT patients. In addition, lipid profile and the abundance of proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) were analyzed on plasma samples. The obtained results demonstrate that the main proteins belonging to cholesterol regulatory network are altered in RTT female patients, providing the proof of principle that cholesterol metabolism may be taken into account as a new target for the treatment of specific features of RTT pathology.

SUBMITTER: Segatto M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4130597 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Cholesterol metabolism is altered in Rett syndrome: a study on plasma and primary cultured fibroblasts derived from patients.

Segatto Marco M Trapani Laura L Di Tunno Ilenia I Sticozzi Claudia C Valacchi Giuseppe G Hayek Joussef J Pallottini Valentina V

PloS one 20140812 8

Rett (RTT) syndrome is a severe neurological disorder that affects almost exclusively females. Several detectable mutations in the X-linked methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 gene (MECP2) are responsible for the onset of the disease. MeCP2 is a key transcription regulator involved in gene silencing via methylation-dependent remodeling of chromatin. Recent data highlight that lipid metabolism is perturbed in brains and livers of MECP2-null male mice. In addition, altered plasma lipid profile in RTT pat ...[more]

PMID: 25118178

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Project description:BackgroundThe human gut microbiota directly affects human health, and its alteration can lead to gastrointestinal abnormalities and inflammation. Rett syndrome (RTT), a progressive neurological disorder mainly caused by mutations in MeCP2 gene, is commonly associated with gastrointestinal dysfunctions and constipation, suggesting a link between RTT's gastrointestinal abnormalities and the gut microbiota. The aim of this study was to evaluate the bacterial and fungal gut microbiota in a cohort of RTT subjects integrating clinical, metabolomics and metagenomics data to understand if changes in the gut microbiota of RTT subjects could be associated with gastrointestinal abnormalities and inflammatory status.ResultsOur findings revealed the occurrence of an intestinal sub-inflammatory status in RTT subjects as measured by the elevated values of faecal calprotectin and erythrocyte sedimentation rate. We showed that, overall, RTT subjects harbour bacterial and fungal microbiota altered in terms of relative abundances from those of healthy controls, with a reduced microbial richness and dominated by microbial taxa belonging to Bifidobacterium, several Clostridia (among which Anaerostipes, Clostridium XIVa, Clostridium XIVb) as well as Erysipelotrichaceae, Actinomyces, Lactobacillus, Enterococcus, Eggerthella, Escherichia/Shigella and the fungal genus Candida. We further observed that alterations of the gut microbiota do not depend on the constipation status of RTT subjects and that this dysbiotic microbiota produced altered short chain fatty acids profiles.ConclusionsWe demonstrated for the first time that RTT is associated with a dysbiosis of both the bacterial and fungal component of the gut microbiota, suggesting that impairments of MeCP2 functioning favour the establishment of a microbial community adapted to the costive gastrointestinal niche of RTT subjects. The altered production of short chain fatty acids associated with this microbiota might reinforce the constipation status of RTT subjects and contribute to RTT gastrointestinal physiopathology.

Project description:This study examines the relationship between cellular sphingomyelin content and the distribution of unesterified cholesterol between the plasma-membrane pool and the putative intracellular regulatory pool. The sphingomyelin content of cultured human skin fibroblasts was reduced by treatment of intact cells with extracellularly added neutral sphingomyelinase, and subsequent changes in the activities of cholesterol-metabolizing enzymes were determined. Exposure of fibroblasts to 0.1 unit of sphingomyelinase/ml for 60 min led to the depletion of more than 90% of the cellular sphingomyelin, as determined from total lipid extracts. In a time-course study, it was found that within 10 min of the addition of sphingomyelinase to cells, a dramatic increase in acyl-CoA:cholesterol acyltransferase activity could be observed, whether measured from the appearance of plasma membrane-derived [3H]cholesterol or exogenously added [14C]oleic acid, in cellular cholesteryl esters. In addition, the cholesteryl ester mass was significantly higher in sphingomyelin-depleted fibroblasts at 3 h after exposure to sphingomyelinase compared with that in untreated fibroblasts [7.1 +/- 0.4 nmol of cholesterol/mg equivalents of esterified cholesterol compared with 4.2 +/- 0.1 nmol of cholesterol/mg equivalents of cholesteryl ester in control cells (P less than 0.05)]. The sphingomyelin-depleted cells also showed a reduction in the rate of endogenous synthesis of cholesterol, as measured by incorporation of sodium [14C]acetate into [14C]cholesterol. These results are consistent with a rapid movement of cholesterol from sphingomyelin-depleted plasma membranes to the putative intracellular regulatory pool of cholesterol. This mass movement of cholesterol away from the plasma membranes presumably resulted from a decreased capacity of the plasma membranes to solubilize cholesterol, since sphingomyelin-depleted cells also had a decreased capacity to incorporate nanomolar amounts of [3H]cholesterol from the extracellular medium, as compared with control cells. These findings confirm previous assumptions that the membrane sphingomyelin content is an important determinant of the overall distribution of cholesterol within intact cells.

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Cholesterol metabolism is altered in Rett syndrome: a study on plasma and primary cultured fibroblasts derived from patients.

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Cholesterol metabolism is altered in Rett syndrome: a study on plasma and primary cultured fibroblasts derived from patients.

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