1. Reconstituted high-density lipoprotein can elevate plasma alanine aminotransferase by transient depletion of hepatic cholesterol: role of the phospholipid component
- Author
-
Eva Herzog, Sabrina Schenk, Marcel Waelchli, Samuel D. Wright, Paolo Zanoni, Ingo Pragst, Svetlana Diditchenko, Andreas Seubert, Marina Cuchel, Daniel J. Rader, Jochen Mueller-Cohrs, and Andreas Gille
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Apolipoprotein B ,biology ,Cholesterol ,Reverse cholesterol transport ,Phospholipid ,030204 cardiovascular system & hematology ,Toxicology ,Transaminase ,03 medical and health sciences ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,030104 developmental biology ,0302 clinical medicine ,High-density lipoprotein ,Endocrinology ,chemistry ,Internal medicine ,Toxicity ,medicine ,biology.protein ,lipids (amino acids, peptides, and proteins) ,Lipoprotein - Abstract
Human apolipoprotein A-I preparations reconstituted with phospholipids (reconstituted high-density lipoprotein [HDL]) have been used in a large number of animal and human studies to investigate the physiological role of apolipoprotein A-I. Several of these studies observed that intravenous infusion of reconstituted HDL might cause transient elevations in plasma levels of hepatic enzymes. Here we describe the mechanism of this enzyme release. Observations from several animal models and in vitro studies suggest that the extent of hepatic transaminase release (alanine aminotransferase [ALT]) correlates with the movement of hepatic cholesterol into the blood after infusion. Both the amount of ALT release and cholesterol movement were dependent on the amount and type of phospholipid present in the reconstituted HDL. As cholesterol is known to dissolve readily in phospholipid, an HDL preparation was loaded with cholesterol before infusion into rats to assess the role of diffusion of cholesterol out of the liver and into the reconstituted HDL. Cholesterol-loaded HDL failed to withdraw cholesterol from tissues and subsequently failed to cause ALT release. To investigate further the role of cholesterol diffusion, we employed mice deficient in SR-BI, a transporter that facilitates spontaneous movement of cholesterol between cell membranes and HDL. These mice showed substantially lower movement of cholesterol into the blood and markedly lower ALT release. We conclude that initial depletion of hepatic cholesterol initiates transient ALT release in response to infusion of reconstituted HDL. This effect may be controlled by appropriate choice of the type and amount of phospholipid in reconstituted HDL. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
- Published
- 2015