Several species of scavenger receptors have so far been identified. However, it remains unclear which receptors are more crucial for the foam cell formation and progression. In the present study, we compared five major scavenger receptors (SR-A, CD36, CLA-1, CD68, and LOX-1) in their levels of expression at the different stages of foam cells derived from THP-1 cells. The expression of all scavenger receptors examined was up-regulated by the stimulation with TPA for 48 hours, despite the expressions of SR-A, CD36 and LOX-1 being very low before the treatment with TPA. Four to 7 days after the removal of TPA, the levels of CD36, CLA-1 and CD68 were increased significantly. In contrast, the expression of SR-A was suppressed significantly, and no change was observed in that of LOX-1. Furthermore, when the transformed macrophages were incubated with oxidized LDL, in which the uptake of [3H] cholesteryl oleoyl ether-labeled OxLDL was linear up to 7 days after the addition of OxLDL, the expression of CD36, CLA-1 and CD68 were greatly enhanced. This enhancement was more prominent than that without oxidized LDL, and the enhancement was sustained throughout the experimental period. On the other hand, SR-A was not up-regulated, and LOX-1 was down-regulated. We thus propose that CD36, CLA-1 and CD68, but not SR-A and LOX-1, may play crucial roles in the progression of macrophages to foam cells, which is a key step for the initiation of atherosclerosis.
We have previously shown that fatty liver was easily induced in suncus by starvation and that the plasma level of apolipoprotein B (apoB) was very low. We also previously reported that a defect in the assembling process of apo B-containing lipoprotein (very low density lipoprotein, VLDL) may be one of the reasons for the low level of plasma apo B and for induction of fatty liver by starvation in suncus. We also found that hepatic acyl coenzyme A cholesterol acyltransferase (ACAT) activity is very low in the animals, resulting in decreased cholesteryl ester contents in the liver. A deficiency of cholesteryl ester in suncus liver may be one of the reasons for the defect in the assembling process of VLDL. In this study, we investigated the effect of cholesterol-feeding, which induces an increase in triglyceride and cholesteryl ester of the liver as a consequence of the induction of both intestinal and hepatic ACAT activities, on the secretion of VLDL. Although the basal ACAT activity of intestinal mucosa was high, cholesterol-feeding did not induce either an increase in plasma lipid or an increase in intestinal ACAT activities in suncus. The hepatic secretion rate of VLDL was estimated by treatment with Triton WR1339, which is well known to inhibit the catabolism of VLDL. Cholesterol-feeding caused a slight increase in hepatic triglyceride and cholesteryl ester but no increase either in the secretion rate of VLDL or in hepatic ACAT activity.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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