Fatty liver dystrophy (fld) mutation: Developmentally related alterations in hepatic triglyceride metabolism and protein expression

摘要

Fatty liver dystrophy (fld) is an autosomal recessive mutation in mice characterized by hypertriglyceridemia and development of a fatty liver in the early neonatal period. Also associated with the fld phenotype is a tissue-specific deficiency in the expression of lipoprotein lipase and hepatic lipase, as well as elevations in hepatic apolipoprotein A-IV and apolipoprotein C-II mRNA levels. Although these lipid abnormalities resolve at the age of weaning, adult mutant mice exhibit a peripheral neuropathy associated with abnormal myelin formation. The fatty liver in fld/fld neonates is characterized by the accumulation of large triglyceride droplets within the parenchymal cells, and these droplets persist within isolated hepatocytes maintained in culture for several days. To identify the metabolic defect that leads to lipid accumulation, the authors investigated several aspects of cellular triglyceride metabolism. The mutant mice exhibited normal activity of acid triacylglycerol lipase, an enzyme thought to be responsible for hydrolysis of dietary triglycerides in the liver. Metabolic labeling studies performed with oleic acid revealed that free fatty acids accumulate in the liver of 3 day old fld/fld mice, but not in adults. This accumulation in liver was mirrored by elevated free fatty acid levels in plasma of fld/fld neonates, with levels highest in very young mice and returning to normal by the age of one month. Quantitation of fatty acid oxidation in cells isolated from fld/fld neonates revealed that oxidation rate is reduced 60% in hepatocytes and 40% in fibroblasts; hepatocytes from adult fld/fld mice exhibited an oxidation rate similar to those from wild-type mice.