Fluorescence Techniques Using Dehydroergosterol to Study Cholesterol Trafficking

Abstract

Cholesterol itself has very few structural/chemical features suitable for real-time imaging in living cells. Thus, the advent of dehydroergosterol [ergosta-5,7,9(11),22-tetraen-3β-ol, DHE] the fluorescent sterol most structurally and functionally similar to cholesterol to date, has proven to be a major asset for real-time probing/elucidating the sterol environment and intracellular sterol trafficking in living organisms. DHE is a naturally-occurring, fluorescent sterol analog that faithfully mimics many of the properties of cholesterol. Because these properties are very sensitive to sterol structure and degradation, such studies require the use of extremely pure (>98%) quantities of fluorescent sterol. DHE is readily bound by cholesterol-binding proteins, is incorporated into lipoproteins (from the diet of animals or by exchange in vitro), and for real-time imaging studies is easily incorporated into cultured cells where it co-distributes with endogenous sterol. Incorporation from an ethanolic stock solution to cell culture media is effective, but this process forms an aqueous dispersion of dehydroergosterol crystals which can result in endocytic cellular uptake and distribution into lysosomes which is problematic in imaging DHE at the plasma membrane of living cells. In contrast, monomeric DHE can be incorporated from unilamellar vesicles by exchange/fusion with the plasma membrane or from DHE-methyl-β-cyclodextrin (DHE-MβCD) complexes by exchange with the plasma membrane. Both of the latter techniques can deliver large quantities of monomeric dehydroergosterol with significant distribution into the plasma membrane. The properties and behavior of DHE in protein-binding, lipoproteins, model membranes, biological membranes, lipid rafts/caveolae, and real-time imaging in living cells indicate that this naturally-occurring fluorescent sterol is a useful mimic for probing the properties of cholesterol in these systems. Keywordsdehydroergosterol; cholesterol; ergosterol; fluorescent sterols; microscopy Historical PerspectiveIn order to resolve the dynamics and factors governing cholesterol trafficking within cells, it is important to recognize that the cholesterol molecule has very few polar constituents (Fig. 1A). Consequently, cholesterol is poorly soluble in aqueous environments such as cytosol as evidenced by critical micellar concentrations of cholesterol and other sterols being very low, *To whom correspondence should be addressed: Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Texas A&M University, TVMC, College Station, TX 862-1433, FAX: (979) NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript near 20-30 nM (1-5). The physiological impact of cholesterol's low aqueous solubility is that spontaneous cholesterol desorption from the cytofacial leaflet of the plasma membrane or lysosomal membrane into the cytosol for transfer to intracellular sites for esterification, oxidation, or secretion is extremely slow (t 1/2 3 hours-days) (6-9). Therefore, it is important to resolve factors...

Use of dansyl-cholestanol as a probe of cholesterol behavior in membranes of living cells

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