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标题：Cholesterol-lowering drugs cause dissolution of cholesterol crystals and disperse Kupffer cell crown-like structures during resolution of NASH
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作者：George N. Ioannou ; Derrick M. Van Rooyen ; Christopher Savard 等
期刊名称：JLR Papers In Press
印刷版ISSN：0022-2275
电子版ISSN：1539-7262
出版年度：2015
卷号：56
期号：2
页码：277-285
DOI：10.1194/jlr.M053785
语种：English
出版社：American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
摘要：Cholesterol crystals form within hepatocyte lipid droplets in human and experimental nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and are the focus of crown-like structures (CLSs) of activated Kupffer cells (KCs). Obese, diabetic Alms1 mutant ( foz/foz ) mice were a fed high-fat (23%) diet containing 0.2% cholesterol for 16 weeks and then assigned to four intervention groups for 8 weeks: a ) vehicle control, b ) ezetimibe (5 mg/kg/day), c ) atorvastatin (20 mg/kg/day), or d ) ezetimibe and atorvastatin. Livers of vehicle-treated mice developed fibrosing NASH with abundant cholesterol crystallization within lipid droplets calculated to extend over 3.3% (SD, 2.2%) of liver surface area. Hepatocyte lipid droplets with prominent cholesterol crystallization were surrounded by TNFα-positive (activated) KCs forming CLSs (≥3 per high-power field). KCs that formed CLSs stained positive for NLRP3, implicating activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome in response to cholesterol crystals. In contrast, foz/foz mice treated with ezetimibe and atorvastatin showed near-complete resolution of cholesterol crystals [0.01% (SD, 0.02%) of surface area] and CLSs (0 per high-power field), with amelioration of fibrotic NASH. Ezetimibe or atorvastatin alone had intermediate effects on cholesterol crystallization, CLSs, and NASH. These findings are consistent with a causative link between exposure of hepatocytes and KCs to cholesterol crystals and with the development of NASH possibly mediated by NLRP3 activation.
关键词：crown-like structure ; caspase 1 ; lipotoxicity ; nonalcoholic steatohepatitis