Search

Obesity increases the risk for hepatic steatosis. Recent studies have demonstrated that high fat diet (HFD) may affect sphingolipid formation in skeletal muscles, heart, and other tissues. In this work we sought to investigate whether HFD feeding provokes changes in content and fatty acids (FAs) composition of sphingomyelin and ceramide at the level of liver and hepatic nuclei. Furthermore, we investigated whether the ceramide formation is related to the activity of either neutral sphingomyelinase (N-SMase) or acidic sphingomyelinase (A-SMase). Three weeks of HFD provision induced pronounced ceramide and sphingomyelin accumulation in both liver and hepatic nuclei, accompanied by increased activity of N-SMase but not A-SMase. Furthermore, a shift toward greater FAs saturation status in these sphingolipids was also observed. These findings support the conclusion that HFD has a major impact on sphingolipid metabolism not only in the liver, but also in hepatic nuclei.

The paper contains current data on the different ways of the liver regeneration. There is still not enough data about control of the regeneration processes in the liver. However nuclear phosphatidylinositols and sphingomyelins have been shown to play a potent role of messengers signaling. The lipid messengers may be potent factors affecting process of liver regeneration after partial hepatectomy.