The potential of sphingolipid depletion for the treatment of atherosclerosis

Sphingolipids have been implicated as potential atherogenic lipids. Inhibition of hepatic serine palmitoyl transferase (SPT) reduces plasma sphingomyelin (SM) levels leading to a reduction of atherosclerosis in apolipoprotein-E gene knockout (apoE-/-) mice. In my thesis I have investigated the possibility that the reduced atherosclerosis resulting from SPT inhibition is associated with decreases in plasma glycosphingolipids (GSL). Furthermore, I examined whether SPT inhibition can lead to regression of atherosclerotic lesions. This thesis shows the SPT inhibitor myriocin inhibits atherosclerosis in apoE-/- mice fed a high fat diet. Lesion inhibition was most pronounced at the aortic arch and distal sites of the thoracic and abdominal aorta. There was also a trend towards a reduction in lesion area at the aortic root. Myriocin treatment resulted in significant reductions in both plasma SM and GSL concentrations. Moreover, it was demonstrated that myriocin significantly inhibited the progression of established atherosclerosis. Although the inhibition of lesion progression was observed mainly in the distal regions of the aorta, regression of lesion size was not detected. In addition, this thesis demonstrated for the first time that selective inhibition of GSL synthesis by the GSL synthesis inhibitor, d-threo-1- ethylendioxyphenyl-2-palmitoylamino-3-pyrrolidino-propanol (EtDO-P4) had no significant impact on lesion area in apoE-deficient mice. Thus, despite the previously observed positive correlations between plasma and aortic GSL concentrations and the development of atherosclerosis, this thesis indicates that inhibition of GSL synthesis does not inhibit atherosclerosis in vivo. In other studies we assessed the possibility that myriocin may also be acting to increase hepatic apoA-I production via the inhibition of ERK phosphorylation. To address this, HepG2 cells and primary mouse hepatocytes were treated with myriocin. This significantly increased apoA-I mRNA, and protein levels. It also increased apoA-I secrection, and decreased ERK phosphorylation. These in vitro data indicate that ERK phosphorylation plays a role in modulating apoA-I expression, and that myriocin’s mechanism of action is linked to this pathway. Overall, this thesis has expanded the current literature regarding the role of sphingolipid synthesis inhibition and atherosclerosis.

Grantor dc:publisher

UNSW, Sydney

Year dc:date

2010

Author dc:creator

• Glaros, Elias Nicholas

• Atherosclerosis
• Sphingolipids
• Glycosphingolipids
• Myriocin
• Apolipoprotein-E

Statement dc:rights

• open access
• CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
• free_to_read

Licence

• https://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
• https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/

Language dc:language

EN

Identifier

https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/22944

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:unsworks.library.unsw.edu.au:1959.4/44751