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Differential Intrahepatic Phospholipid Zonation in Simple Steatosis and Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis

Journal Article · · PLoS ONE
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2]
  1. Columbia University, New York, NY (United States); DOE/OSTI
  2. Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN (United States)
  3. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) occurs frequently in a setting of obesity, dyslipidemia and insulin resistance, but the etiology of the disease, particularly the events favoring progression to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) as opposed to simple steatosis (SS), are not fully understood. Based on known zonation patterns in protein, glucose and lipid metabolism, coupled with evidence that phosphatidylcholine may play a role in NASH pathogenesis, we hypothesized that phospholipid zonation exists in liver and that specific phospholipid abundance and distribution may be associated with histologic disease. A survey of normal hepatic protein expression profiles in the Human Protein Atlas revealed pronounced zonation of enzymes involved in lipid utilization and storage, particularly those facilitating phosphatidylcholine (PC) metabolism. Immunohistochemistry of obese normal, SS and NASH liver specimens with anti-phosphatidylethanomine Nmethyltransferase (PEMT) antibodies showed a progressive decrease in the zonal distribution of this PC biosynthetic enzyme. Phospholipid quantitation by liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS) in hepatic extracts of Class III obese patients with increasing NAFLD severity revealed that most PC species with 32, 34 and 36 carbons as well as total PC abundance was decreased with SS and NASH. Matrix assisted laser desorption ionization - imaging mass spectrometry (MALDI-IMS) imaging revealed strong zonal distributions for 32, 34 and 36 carbon PCs in controls (minimal histologic findings) and SS that was lost in NASH specimens. Specific lipid species such as PC 34:1 and PC 36:2 best illustrated this phenomenon. These findings suggest that phospholipid zonation may be associated with the presence of an intrahepatic proinflammatory phenotype and thus have broad implications in the etiopathogenesis of NASH.
Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
National Institutes of Health (NIH); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1627588
Journal Information:
PLoS ONE, Journal Name: PLoS ONE Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 8; ISSN 1932-6203
Publisher:
Public Library of ScienceCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (11)

Lipid zonation and phospholipid remodeling in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: Hall et al. journal February 2017
AhR and SHP regulate phosphatidylcholine and S-adenosylmethionine levels in the one-carbon cycle journal February 2018
Phospholipid Remodeling in Physiology and Disease journal February 2019
Spatial Systems Lipidomics Reveals Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Heterogeneity text January 2018
A micro-RNA expression signature for human NAFLD progression journal February 2016
Three-dimensional spatially resolved geometrical and functional models of human liver tissue reveal new aspects of NAFLD progression journal December 2019
Total liver phosphatidylcholine content associates with non‐alcoholic steatohepatitis and glycine N‐methyltransferase expression journal July 2019
Control of oxygen tension recapitulates zone-specific functions in human liver microphysiology systems journal April 2017
Pre-clinical and clinical investigations of metabolic zonation in liver diseases: The potential of microphysiology systems journal May 2017
Lipid zonation and phospholipid remodeling in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. text January 2017
Circulating Phospholipid Patterns in NAFLD Patients Associated with a Combination of Metabolic Risk Factors journal May 2018

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