Neutral lipids—involved in many cellular processes—are stored as lipid droplets (LD), those mainly cytosolic (cLD) along with a small nuclear population (nLD). nLD could be involved in nuclear-lipid homeostasis serving as an endonuclear buffering system that would provide or incorporate lipids and proteins involved in signalling pathways as transcription factors and as enzymes of lipid metabolism and nuclear processes. Our aim was to determine if nLD constituted a dynamic domain. Oleic-acid (OA) added to rat hepatocytes or HepG2 cells in culture produced cellular-phenotypic LD modifications: increases in TAG, CE, C, and PL content and in cLD and nLD numbers and sizes. LD increments were reversed on exclusion of OA and were prevented by inhibition of acyl-CoA synthetase (with Triacsin C) and thus lipid biosynthesis. Under all conditions, nLD corresponded to a small population (2–10%) of total cellular LD. The anabolism triggered by OA, involving morphologic and size changes within the cLD and nLD populations, was reversed by a net balance of catabolism, upon eliminating OA. These catabolic processes included lipolysis and the mobilization of hydrolyzed FA from the LD to cytosolic-oxidation sites. These results would imply that nLD are actively involved in nuclear processes that include lipids. In conclusion, nLD are a dynamic nuclear domain since they are modified by OA through a reversible mechanism in combination with cLD; this process involves acyl-CoA-synthetase activity; ongoing TAG, CE, and PL biosynthesis. Thus, liver nLD and cLD are both dynamic cellular organelles.

Nuclear-lipid droplets (nLD)-a dynamic cellular organelle that stores neutral lipids, within the nucleus of eukaryotic cells-consists of a hydrophobic triacylglycerol -cholesterol-ester core enriched in oleic acid (OA) surrounded by a monolayer of polar lipids, cholesterol, and proteins. nLD are probably involved in nuclear-lipid homeostasis serving as an endonuclear buffer that provides or incorporates lipids and proteins participating in signaling pathways, as transcription factors and enzymes of lipid metabolism and nuclear processes. In the present work, we analyzed the nLD proteome and hypothesized that nLD-monolayer proteins could be involved in processes similar as the ones occurring in the cLD including lipid metabolism and other cellular functions. We evaluated the rat-liver-nLD proteome under physiological and nonpathological conditions by GeLC-MS 2 . Since isolated nLD are highly diluted, a protein-concentrating isolation protocol was designed. Thirty-five proteins were identified within the functional categories: cytoskeleton and structural, transcription and translation, histones, protein-folding and posttranslational modification, cellular proliferation and/or cancer, lipid metabolism, and transport. Purified nLD contained an enzyme from the lipid-metabolism pathway, carboxylesterase 1d (Ces1d/ Ces3). Nuclear Carboxylesterase localization was confirmed by Western blotting. By in-silico analyses rat Ces1d/ Ces3 secondary and tertiary structure predicted would be equivalent to human CES1. These results-the first nLD proteome-demonstrate that a tandem-GeLC-MS 2 -analysis protocol facilitates studies like these on rat-liver nuclei. A diversity of cellular-protein function was identified indicating the direct or indirect nLD participation and involving Ces1d/Ces3 in the LD-population homeostasis.

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