Lipolyzed hypertriglyceridemic serum and triglyceride-rich lipoprotein cause lipid accumulation in and are cytotoxic to cultured human endothelial cells. High density lipoproteins inhibit this cytotoxicity.
Sleutelwoorden
Abstract
The cytotoxic effect of hypertriglyceridemic (HTG) serum and triglyceride-rich lipoprotein (TG-rich lipoprotein) lipolyzed in vitro by purified lipoprotein lipase on cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) was studied. When confluent cultures of HUVECs (8.4 x 10(4)/cm2) were incubated in the presence of control (non-lipolyzed HTG serum) or lipolyzed HTG serum or TG-rich lipoprotein, the lipolyzed HTG serum or TG-rich lipoprotein was cytotoxic to the HUVECs as indicated by their detachment from the culture dish; the lipolyzed serum at 10% of the culture medium or lipolyzed TG-rich lipoprotein at 75 micrograms cholesterol/ml caused the detachment of all (100%) of the cells from the culture dish after a 24 h incubation. Control (non-lipolyzed) HTG serum or non-lipolyzed TG-rich lipoprotein at the same or higher concentration was not cytotoxic to the cells. The HUVECs incubated for 48 h with low (sublethal) doses of lipolyzed TG-rich lipoprotein (10-50 micrograms cholesterol/ml) contained massive lipid inclusions; no lipid inclusions were seen within the cells when the culture medium contained control non-lipolyzed TG-rich lipoproteins. Finally, when high density lipoprotein (HDL) was added to the culture medium at the same concentration as the cytotoxic lipolyzed TG-rich lipoprotein (75 micrograms cholesterol/ml), the cytotoxic effect of the lipolyzed TG-rich lipoprotein was inhibited. These data suggest that the interaction of endothelial cells with lipolytic remnants of TG-rich lipoprotein may play a role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and that HDL may play an important role in inhibition of the endothelial cell injury produced by the lipolytic remnants of TG-rich lipoprotein.