Chinese Journal of Tissue Engineering Research ›› 2016, Vol. 20 ›› Issue (7): 1000-1005.doi: 10.3969/j.issn.2095-4344.2016.07.012

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Inhibitory effects of extracellular cholesterol and lipopolysaccharide on cellular cholesterol efflus

Liu Jie, Zheng Yun-mei, Tian Zhi-hui, Chang Guang-ming, Li Hai-dong   

  1. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Basic Medicine, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300070, China
  • Received:2015-11-29 Online:2016-02-12 Published:2016-02-12
  • About author:Liu Jie, Studying for master’s degree, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Basic Medicine, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300070, China

Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Cholesterol is closely linked to the occurrence and progression of atherosclerosis. Current approaches to study cellular cholesterol dynamics have their own limitations.
OBJECTIVE: To measure the cholesterol efflux rate of RAW 264.7 mouse macrophages by BODIPY-Cholesterol labeling and to explore the effects of extracellular cholesterol and lipopolysaccharide on the cholesterol efflux rate.
METHODS: RAW 264.7 cells were cultured in vitro with DMEM containing 10% fetal bovine serum, and labeled with BODIPY-Cholesterol for 1, 2, 4, 8 hours. Then, the cells were rinsed with serum-free DMEM and inoculated for 6, 12, 24, 48, 96 hours to optimize the labeling time and incubation time. We measured and compared the cholesterol efflux rates after cultured cells were treated with cholesterol, lipopolysaccharide, human sera with high cholesterol or human sera with normal cholesterol.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The best labeling time for BODIPY-Cholesterol was 2-8 hours. Cholesterol efflux rates were gradually decreased after the cells that were labeled for 2 hours were incubated with increasing concentrations of cholesterol (0.1, 0.5, 2.5 mmol/L, P < 0.01). Treating cells with lipopolysaccharide also decreased the cholesterol efflux rate (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the cholesterol efflux rate was decreased after cells were treated with human sera with high cholesterol (P < 0.05). These findings indicate that BODIPY-Cholesterol can be used to measure cellular cholesterol efflux rate and to study the effects of extracellular cholesterol and lipopolysaccharide on the cholesterol efflux rate.