Sphingolipids (SLs) are plasma membrane constituents in eukaryotic cells which play important roles in a wide variety of cellular functions. However, little is known about the mechanisms of their internalization from the plasma membrane or subsequent intracellular targeting. We have begun to study these issues in human skin fibroblasts using fluorescent SL analogues. Using selective endocytic inhibitors and dominant negative constructs of dynamin and epidermal growth factor receptor pathway substrate clone 15, we found that analogues of lactosylceramide and globoside were internalized almost exclusively by a clathrin-independent (“caveolar-like”) mechanism, whereas an analogue of sphingomyelin was taken up approximately equally by clathrin-dependent and -independent pathways. We also showed that the Golgi targeting of SL analogues internalized via the caveolar-like pathway was selectively perturbed by elevated intracellular cholesterol, demonstrating the existence of two discrete Golgi targeting pathways. Studies using SL-binding toxins internalized via clathrin-dependent or -independent mechanisms confirmed that endogenous SLs follow the same two pathways. These findings (a) provide a direct demonstration of differential SLs sorting into early endosomes in living cells, (b) provide a “vital marker” for endosomes derived from caveolar-like endocytosis, and (c) identify two independent pathways for lipid transport from the plasma membrane to the Golgi apparatus in human skin fibroblasts.

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We studied the endocytosis of fluorescent glycosphingolipid (GSL) analogs in various cell types using pathway-specific inhibitors and colocalization studies with endocytic markers and DsRed caveolin-1 (cav-1). Based on inhibitor studies, all GSLs tested were internalized predominantly (Ͼ80%) by a clathrin-independent, caveolar-related mechanism, regardless of cell type. In addition, fluorescent lactosylceramide (LacCer) colocalized with DsRed-cav-1 in vesicular structures upon endocytosis in rat fibroblasts. The internalization mechanism for GSLs was unaffected by varying the carbohydrate headgroup or sphingosine backbone chain length; however, a fluorescent phosphatidylcholine analog was not internalized via caveolae, suggesting that the GSL ceramide core may be important for caveolar uptake. Internalization of fluorescent LacCer was reduced 80 -90% in cell types with low cav-1, but was dramatically stimulated by cav-1 overexpression. However, even in cells with low levels of cav-1, residual LacCer internalization was clathrin independent. In contrast, cholera toxin B subunit (CtxB), which binds endogenous GM 1 , was internalized via clathrin-independent endocytosis in cells with high cav-1 expression, whereas significant clathrin-dependent uptake occurred in cells with low cav-1. Fluorescent GM 1 , normally internalized by clathrin-independent endocytosis in HeLa cells with low cav-1, was induced to partially internalize via the clathrin pathway in the presence of CtxB. These results suggest that GSL analogs are selectively internalized via a caveolar-related mechanism in most cell types, whereas CtxB may undergo "pathway switching" when cav-1 levels are low.

Internalization of some plasma membrane constituents, bacterial toxins, and viruses occurs via caveolae; however, the factors that regulate caveolar internalization are still unclear. Here, we demonstrate that a brief treatment of cultured cells with natural or synthetic glycosphingolipids (GSLs) or elevation of cholesterol (either by acute treatment with m␤-cyclodextrin/cholesterol or by alteration of growth conditions) dramatically stimulates caveolar endocytosis with little or no effect on other endocytic mechanisms. These treatments also stimulated the movement of GFP-labeled vesicles in cells transfected with caveolin-1-GFP and reduced the number of surface-connected caveolae seen by electron microscopy. In contrast, overexpression of caveolin-1 decreased caveolar uptake, but treatment with GSLs reversed this effect and stimulated caveolar endocytosis. Stimulation of caveolar endocytosis did not occur using ceramide or phosphatidylcholine and was not due to GSL degradation because similar results were obtained using a nonhydrolyzable GSL analog. Stimulated caveolar endocytosis required src kinase and PKC-␣ activity as shown by i) use of pharmacological inhibitors, ii) expression of kinase inactive src or dominant negative PKC␣, and iii) stimulation of src kinase activity upon addition of GSLs or cholesterol. These results suggest that caveolar endocytosis is regulated by a balance of caveolin-1, cholesterol, and GSLs at the plasma membrane. INTRODUCTIONCaveolae are plasma membrane (PM) specializations that are rich in cholesterol, sphingolipids, and caveolin-1 (Cav1), a cholesterol-binding protein (Smart et al., 1999). By electron microscopy, they appear as flask-shaped structures at the PM and as smooth uncoated vesicles near the PM. Caveolae have been implicated in signaling, endocytosis, transcytosis, and potocytosis (for reviews see Smart et al., 1999;Fielding and Fielding, 2001;Mineo and Anderson, 2001;Carver and Schnitzer, 2003;Parton, 2003). Recently caveolae have gained attention because they have been documented to play a role in the cellular uptake and intracellular delivery of some bacterial toxins, viruses, and bacteria (Lencer et al., 1999;Shin et al., 2000;Norkin, 2001;Pelkmans et al., 2001;Richterova et al., 2001;Duncan et al., 2002;Marjomaki et al., 2002). One of the first markers to be used for caveolar endocytosis was the cholera toxin B subunit (CtxB), which binds to GM 1 ganglioside at the PM and is internalized through caveolae in some cell types (Orlandi and Fishman, 1998;Torgersen et al., 2001). SV40 virus has been shown to be internalized from the PM in small Cav1-containing vesicles (Pelkmans et al., 2001), and caveolar endocytosis of derivatized albumin has also been reported (Schnitzer et al., 1994;Shubert et al., 2001;Sharma et al., 2003;Singh et al., 2003). We previously showed that fluorescent glycosphingolipid (GSL) analogs (lactosylceramide [LacCer] and globoside) are selectively internalized via caveolae in human skin fibroblasts (HSFs) and other cell types using pathway-sp...

We recently showed that human skin fibroblasts internalize fluorescent analogues of the glycosphingolipids lactosylceramide and globoside almost exclusively by a clathrin-independent mechanism involving caveolae. In contrast, a sphingomyelin analogue is internalized approximately equally via clathrin-dependent and caveolar routes. Here, we further characterized the caveolar pathway for glycosphingolipids, showing that Golgi targeting of sphingolipids internalized via caveolae required microtubules and phosphoinositol 3-kinases and was inhibited in cells expressing dominant-negative Rab7 and Rab9 constructs. In addition, overexpression of wild-type Rab7 or Rab9 (but not Rab11) in Niemann-Pick type C (NP-C) lipid storage disease fibroblasts resulted in correction of lipid trafficking defects, including restoration of Golgi targeting of fluorescent lactosylceramide and endogenous GM 1 ganglioside, and a dramatic reduction in intracellular cholesterol stores. Our results demonstrate a role for Rab7 and Rab9 in the Golgi targeting of glycosphingolipids and suggest a new therapeutic approach for restoring normal lipid trafficking in NP-C cells.