Lysosomal acid lipase regulates VLDL synthesis and insulin sensitivity in mice

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: Lysosomal acid lipase (LAL) hydrolyses cholesteryl esters and triacylglycerols (TG) within lysosomes to mobilise NEFA and cholesterol. Since LAL-deficient (Lal (-/-) ) mice suffer from progressive loss of adipose tissue and severe accumulation of lipids in hepatic lysosomes, we hypothesised that LAL deficiency triggers alternative energy pathway(s). METHODS: We studied metabolic adaptations in Lal (-/-) mice. RESULTS: Despite loss of adipose tissue, Lal (-/-) mice show enhanced glucose clearance during insulin and glucose tolerance tests and have increased uptake of [(3)H]2-deoxy-D-glucose into skeletal muscle compared with wild-type mice. In agreement, fasted Lal (-/-) mice exhibit reduced glucose and glycogen levels in skeletal muscle. We observed 84% decreased plasma leptin levels and significantly reduced hepatic ATP, glucose, glycogen and glutamine concentrations in fed Lal (-/-) mice. Markedly reduced hepatic acyl-CoA concentrations decrease the expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α (PPARα) target genes. However, treatment of Lal (-/-) mice with the PPARα agonist fenofibrate further decreased plasma TG (and hepatic glucose and glycogen) concentrations in Lal (-/-) mice. Depletion of hepatic nuclear factor 4α and forkhead box protein a2 in fasted Lal (-/-) mice might be responsible for reduced expression of microsomal TG transfer protein, defective VLDL synthesis and drastically reduced plasma TG levels. CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: Our findings indicate that neither activation nor inactivation of PPARα per se but rather the availability of hepatic acyl-CoA concentrations regulates VLDL synthesis and subsequent metabolic adaptations in Lal (-/-) mice. We conclude that decreased plasma VLDL production enhances glucose uptake into skeletal muscle to compensate for the lack of energy supply

Tissue-Specific Landscape of Metabolic Dysregulation during Ageing

The dysregulation of cellular metabolism is a hallmark of ageing. To understand the metabolic changes that occur as a consequence of the ageing process and to find biomarkers for age-related diseases, we conducted metabolomic analyses of the brain, heart, kidney, liver, lung and spleen in young (9–10 weeks) and old (96–104 weeks) wild-type mice [mixed genetic background of 129/J and C57BL/6] using NMR spectroscopy. We found differences in the metabolic fingerprints of all tissues and distinguished several metabolites to be altered in most tissues, suggesting that they may be universal biomarkers of ageing. In addition, we found distinct tissue-clustered sets of metabolites throughout the organism. The associated metabolic changes may reveal novel therapeutic targets for the treatment of ageing and age-related diseases. Moreover, the identified metabolite biomarkers could provide a sensitive molecular read-out to determine the age of biologic tissues and organs and to validate the effectiveness and potential off-target effects of senolytic drug candidates on both a systemic and tissue-specific level

Metabolomic Profiles of Mouse Tissues Reveal an Interplay between Aging and Energy Metabolism

Energy metabolism, including alterations in energy intake and expenditure, is closely related to aging and longevity. Metabolomics studies have recently unraveled changes in metabolite composition in plasma and tissues during aging and have provided critical information to elucidate the molecular basis of the aging process. However, the metabolic changes in tissues responsible for food intake and lipid storage have remained unexplored. In this study, we aimed to investigate aging-related metabolic alterations in these tissues. To fill this gap, we employed NMR-based metabolomics in several tissues, including different parts of the intestine (duodenum, jejunum, ileum) and brown/white adipose tissues (BAT, WAT), of young (9–10 weeks) and old (96–104 weeks) wild-type (mixed genetic background of 129/J and C57BL/6) mice. We, further, included plasma and skeletal muscle of the same mice to verify previous results. Strikingly, we found that duodenum, jejunum, ileum, and WAT do not metabolically age. In contrast, plasma, skeletal muscle, and BAT show a strong metabolic aging phenotype. Overall, we provide first insights into the metabolic changes of tissues essential for nutrient uptake and lipid storage and have identified biomarkers for metabolites that could be further explored, to study the molecular mechanisms of aging

Phosphatidylethanolamine N-Methyltransferase Knockout Modulates Metabolic Changes in Aging Mice

Phospholipid metabolism, including phosphatidylcholine (PC) biosynthesis, is crucial for various biological functions and is associated with longevity. Phosphatidylethanolamine N-methyltransferase (PEMT) is a protein that catalyzes the biosynthesis of PC, the levels of which change in various organs such as the brain and kidneys during aging. However, the role of PEMT for systemic PC supply is not fully understood. To address how PEMT affects aging-associated energy metabolism in tissues responsible for nutrient absorption, lipid storage, and energy consumption, we employed NMR-based metabolomics to study the liver, plasma, intestine (duodenum, jejunum, and ileum), brown/white adipose tissues (BAT and WAT), and skeletal muscle of young (9–10 weeks) and old (91–132 weeks) wild-type (WT) and PEMT knockout (KO) mice. We found that the effect of PEMT-knockout was tissue-specific and age-dependent. A deficiency of PEMT affected the metabolome of all tissues examined, among which the metabolome of BAT from both young and aged KO mice was dramatically changed in comparison to the WT mice, whereas the metabolome of the jejunum was only slightly affected. As for aging, the absence of PEMT increased the divergence of the metabolome during the aging of the liver, WAT, duodenum, and ileum and decreased the impact on skeletal muscle. Overall, our results suggest that PEMT plays a previously underexplored, critical role in both aging and energy metabolism

Metabolic link between phosphatidylethanolamine and triacylglycerol metabolism in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae triacylglycerols (TAG) are synthesized by the acyl-CoA dependent acyltransferases Dga1p, Are1p, Are2p and the acyl-CoA independent phospholipid:diacylglycerol acyltransferase (PDAT) Lro1p which uses phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) as a preferred acyl donor. In the present study we investigated a possible link between TAG and PE metabolism by analyzing the contribution of the four different PE biosynthetic pathways to TAG formation, namely de novo PE synthesis via Psd1p and Psd2p, the CDP-ethanolamine (CDP-Etn) pathway and lyso-PE acylation by Ale1p. In cells grown on the non-fermentable carbon source lactate supplemented with 5 mM ethanolamine (Etn) the CDP-Etn pathway contributed most to the cellular TAG level, whereas mutations in the other pathways displayed only minor effects. In cki1∆dpl1∆eki1∆ mutants bearing defects in the CDP-Etn pathway both the cellular and the microsomal levels of PE were markedly decreased, whereas in other mutants of PE biosynthetic routes depletion of this aminoglycerophospholipid was less pronounced in microsomes. This observation is important because Lro1p similar to the enzymes of the CDP-Etn pathway is a component of the ER. We conclude from these results that in cki1∆dpl1∆eki1∆ insufficient supply of PE to the PDAT Lro1p was a major reason for the strongly reduced TAG level. Moreover, we found that Lro1p activity was markedly decreased in cki1∆dpl1∆eki1∆, although transcription of LRO1 was not affected. Our findings imply that (i) TAG and PE syntheses in the yeast are tightly linked; and (ii) TAG formation by the PDAT Lro1p strongly depends on PE synthesis through the CDP-Etn pathway. Moreover, it is very likely that local availability of PE in microsomes is crucial for TAG synthesis through the Lro1p reaction