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Department of Biochemistry (D.N.G., T.H., E.C.P., P.F.P.), Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts 02118; and Jean Mayer-U.S. Department of Agriculture Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University (H.M., H.-H.Z., S.S., M.O., A.S.G.), Boston, Massachusetts 02111
Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Paul F. Pilch, Boston University School of Medicine, Department of Biochemistry 715 Albany Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02118. E-mail: ppilch{at}bu.edu.
| ABSTRACT |
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(NIH-C/EBP
cells) differentiate into mature adipocytes that simultaneously express perilipin and ADRP. In response to isoproterenol, perilipin is hyperphosphorylated, lipolysis is enhanced, and subsequently, ADRP expression increases coincident with it surrounding intracellular lipid droplets. In the absence of lipolytic stimulation, inhibition of proteasomal activity with MG-132 increased ADRP levels to those of cells treated with 10 µM isoproterenol, but ADRP does not surround the lipid droplet in the absence of lipolytic stimulation. We overexpressed a perilipin A construct in NIH-C/EBP
cells where the six serine residues known to be phosphorylated by protein kinase A were changed to alanine (Peri A
16). These cells show no increase in ADRP expression in response to isoproterenol. We propose that ADRP can replace perilipin on existing lipid droplets or those newly formed as a result of fatty acid reesterification, under dynamic conditions of hormonally stimulated lipolysis, thus preserving lipid droplet morphology/structure. | INTRODUCTION |
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The major role of perilipin is to regulate lipolysis by virtue of its ability to protect the intracellular lipid droplets from neutral lipases within the cell under basal conditions (15, 16, 17). In response to lipolytic stimuli, perilipin becomes phosphorylated on six serine residues and recruits hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL), and probably other lipases, to the surface of the lipid droplet so that the stored lipids will undergo breakdown and release (2, 17, 18, 19). The exact mechanism by which hormonally mediated perilipin phosphorylation facilitates access of lipases such as HSL to the lipid droplet remains unclear.
Interestingly, in 3T3-L1 cultured murine adipocytes, ADRP mRNA expression continues to rise as differentiation proceeds, whereas protein levels decrease and are hardly detectable by d 8 of differentiation (6, 7). This is in contrast to perilipin, in which both the mRNA and protein levels increase throughout the differentiation process (7). As perilipin protein levels increase, ADRP levels decrease and the protein composition surrounding the lipid droplets, as detected by immunofluorescence, switches from ADRP, originally observed as a punctuate pattern, to perilipin. This switch occurs around d 3 of differentiation, at which point both ADRP and perilipin surround lipid droplets but by d 5 all of the lipid droplets are surrounded by perilipin consistent with the lack of ADRP expression (7). Perilipin has been shown to be stabilized post translationally because, upon incubation of adrenal cortical cells with fatty acids, the perilipin protein levels increase 6-fold, whereas the mRNA levels remain the same (20). In addition, the loading of perilipin mRNA onto free polysomes occurs irrespective of the fatty acid loading, demonstrating that this increase in protein is a posttranslational stabilization effect (20). There is evidence suggesting ADRP may also be stabilized posttranslationally by increased intracellular fatty acid/triacylglycerol levels in a manner similar to perilipin because its expression is stabilized by exogenous fatty acid treatment of cells or by factors that increase the intracellular lipid content such as etomoxir, an inhibitor of carnitine palmitoyl-transferase 1 (16, 21, 22).
There appears to be some form of competition for lipid droplet association that exists between perilipin and ADRP as supported by various lines of evidence. The N-terminal 100 amino acids of ADRP are involved in lipid droplet binding (23), and this region displays 65% homology with the same region of perilipin (3), suggesting a common mode of binding. As adipocytes differentiate, perilipin protein levels increase above those of ADRP, thus preventing its droplet binding and facilitating its degradation (7). Also, perilipin null mice have ADRP coating the lipid droplets of their adipocytes (24). Finally, adenoviral-mediated ectopic expression of perilipin in lipid-loaded NIH-3T3 cells or Chinese hamster ovary cells decreased the protein expression of ADRP dramatically (16, 17). Thus, as perilipin protein levels increase above those of ADRP, it may preclude ADRP from binding to the lipid droplets thus resulting in its destabilization.
To get a better understanding of the relationship between ADRP and perilipin, we used an NIH-3T3-derived adipocyte cell line expressing the adipogenic transcription factor C/EBP
(CCAAT/enhancer binding protein) as a result of retroviral-mediated infection (25, 26). Unlike the situation in 3T3-L1 adipocytes, both ADRP and perilipin protein levels increase upon the induction of differentiation in these cells (Fig. 1
), thus allowing more facile detection of the former. We have used this engineered cell line to dissect and understand aspects of insulin-stimulated glucose transport, and here we use them to study the dynamics of protein association with lipid droplets.
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| RESULTS |
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Adipocytes Exhibit Hormonally Stimulated Lipolysis
behave similarly to 3T3-L1 adipocytes (27) by becoming laden with lipid droplets and exhibiting insulin-dependent glucose transport as they differentiate (25, 26, 28). Figure 1A
adipocytes in a time-dependent (Fig. 1B
adipocytes.
Stimulation of Lipolysis in NIH/C/EBP
Adipocytes Results in a Further Increase in ADRP Protein Expression
Cells were exposed to isoproterenol, and as expected, perilipin is seen to be phosphorylated in response to the agonist as shown by its decreased mobility in gel electrophoresis (Fig. 2
). Within the first 15 min of stimulation, perilipin appears to be maximally phosphorylated, and this effect is protein kinase A (PKA) dependent because incubation of the cells with H89, a PKA inhibitor, prevents this phosphorylation from occurring (Fig. 2
). This phosphorylation is maintained for the 2-h duration of isoproterenol treatment, as is the level of perilipin protein expression. Interestingly and perhaps surprisingly, the level of ADRP is increased by isoproterenol at 60 and 120 min after agonist treatment. Evidently, there is some tonic level of adenylate cyclase activity in these cells as H89 slightly suppresses basal ADRP expression (see also Fig. 4A
). Stimulation of adipocytes with either a ß3-adrenergic receptor-selective agonist or dibutyryl cAMP (a cAMP donor) also results in phosphorylation of perilipin and increased expression of ADRP, further confirming that this effect is a result of PKA stimulation (data not shown). The time course for the increase in ADRP expression does not correlate with perilipin phosphorylation because the latter is maximal at 15 min of stimulation, whereas 1 h is required to significantly alter ADRP amounts.
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cells by indirect immunofluorescence. As shown in Fig. 3A
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Proteasome Inhibition with MG132 Results in Increased ADRP Expression in the Absence of PKA Activation
Treatment of cells with the proteasome inhibitor MG132 for 2 h resulted in unchanged perilipin levels, and after isoproterenol treatment for 2 h, perilipin is still maximally phosphorylated as demonstrated by its decreased mobility via gel electrophoresis (Fig. 4A
). On the other hand, ADRP levels increase in response to MG132 treatment with or without isoproterenol exposure. Ordinarily, under these conditions ADRP levels remain decreased, suggesting that the increased levels after lipolytic stimulation are the result of increased stabilization of ADRP.
Despite these increased levels of ADRP with MG132 treatment alone, there is no detectable lipid droplet binding indicating that proteasome inhibition has the ability to stabilize the protein independent of lipolysis and lipid droplet binding. This is illustrated in the immunofluorescence experiment of Fig. 4B
, where cells have been treated with isoproterenol for 2 h in the presence or absence of the PKA inhibitor H89, as well as the proteasome inhibitor MG132. Under conditions that promote lipolysis (H89), ADRP surrounds lipid droplets as shown by the lipid ring-like staining pattern (Fig. 4B
). However, under conditions where lipolysis is inhibited (+H89) and ADRP expression is increased by MG132 treatment (Fig. 4A
), there is no signal surrounding the lipid droplets (Fig. 4B
).
Overexpression of a Nonphosphorylatable Perilipin Construct Results in Decreased ADRP Levels
As discussed in the introductory text, perilipin phosphorylation is a requisite for hormonally stimulated lipolysis by virtue of its ability to recruit HSL to the droplet where it acts. Therefore, we decided to see whether overexpressing a mutant perilipin construct lacking all possible PKA phosphorylation sites [Peri A
16 (18)] could block the increase in ADRP expression in response to isoproterenol. The hypothesis is that the Peri A
16 will coat the lipid droplet but not allow access of HSL because it cannot be phosphorylated. Therefore, lipolysis will not occur and ADRP will be unable to increase in amount and decorate the lipid droplet. Figure 5A
demonstrates that the NIH-C/EBP
adipocytes overexpressing the mutant perilipin Peri A
16 express lower ADRP levels in response to isoproterenol as compared with control cells not infected with adenovirus and cells infected with green fluorescent protein (GFP) adenovirus. This would suggest that the phosphorylation of perilipin, and thus its ability to mediate HSL binding and enhance lipolysis, is necessary to an increase in ADRP expression and binding to the droplets.
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expression (29, 30, 31). After their differentiation, perilipin wild-type (Peri A) and Peri A
16 constructs were expressed by means of adenoviral infection. When a GFP-containing vector was used, forskolin-stimulation of cAMP levels results in no change in ADRP levels. Expression of wild type perilipin shows that ADRP levels decrease under basal conditions as expected and increase as a result of forskolin treatment but Peri A
16 suppresses ADRP expression basally and after forskolin exposure (Fig. 6
cells.
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| DISCUSSION |
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-driven conversion of NIH-3T3 fibroblasts into adipocytes. These cells have insulin-responsive glucose transport, and they accumulate intracellular lipid droplets (25, 26). We show here that they express key proteins involved in lipolysis such as perilipin and HSL, and they respond to lipolytic stimuli in a time- and concentration-dependent manner (Fig. 1
Our findings can be summarized as follows. We show that ADRP expression increases in more than one adipocyte cell line, in response to lipolytic stimulation after 12 h of lipolysis, a time when perilipin protein levels are essentially unchanged from the basal state (Fig. 2
). Indeed, perilipin phosphorylation is maximal by 15 min of adrenergic stimulation, which corresponds to increased rates of lipolysis and does not therefore correlate with the 12 h required for the increased levels of ADRP expression (Fig. 2
). Only after prolonged lipolytic stimulation does ADRP decorate/surround lipid droplets (Fig. 3
). As noted previously, ADRP mRNA is relatively abundant in adipocytes, suggesting that either a lack of translation or enhanced protein degradation accounts for the lack of ADRP. Indeed, we find that ADRP expression can be further increased in NIH-C/EBP
cells by incubation of cells with a proteasome inhibitor, MG132 (Fig. 4
), suggesting that protein degradation normally accounts for the lack or decreased levels of ADRP. However, the significant basal expression of ADRP in these cells, where it does not bind to lipid droplets, may be sufficiently high to allow some of it to escape degradation. Importantly, even when ADRP levels are significantly elevated by inhibition of proteasomal activity, it stills does not bind to lipid droplets in the absence of lipolysis. We confirmed this observation by overexpressing a perilipin construct, Peri A
16, lacking all the PKA-mediated phosphorylation sites required for hormonally stimulated lipolysis, and we found that ADRP levels did not increase under these circumstances (Figs. 5
and 6
). This can be explained by inhibition of hormonally regulated lipolysis due to the lack of phosphorylatable perilipin because phosphorylated perilipin is required to recruit HSL to the lipid droplet to enhance lipolysis (19). Thus, in our experiments, hormonally stimulated lipolysis is required for ADRP decoration of lipid droplets under all conditions, suggesting that upon lipolytic stimulation, ADRP is either replacing perilipin on existing droplets or is binding to droplets newly formed as a result of fatty reesterification to triglycerides.
We confirmed the former possibility by double-label immunofluorescence showing that ADRP and perilipin can bind to the same lipid droplet (Fig. 3B
), although we observed some tendency of the former to be associated mainly with smaller droplets (Figs. 3
and 4
). This suggested the possibility that these could represent new lipid droplets formed as a result of fatty acid glycerol reesterification. Thus, we employed triacsin C, an inhibitor of some of the acyl coenzyme A synthetase isoforms (33) required for reesterification and triglyceride formation (15) to test this possibility. We found that this inhibitor reduces ADRP expression in the basal state as well as after 2 h of isoproterenol stimulation, but the amount of ADRP associated with the lipid droplets after exposure of cells to isoproterenol, as determined by immunofluorescence, was not significantly different in the presence and absence of triacsin C (data not shown). These data are consistent with the possibility that ADRP acylation plays a role in the enhanced stability of this protein observed upon lipolysis, and indeed, this acylation has been observed in ADRP isolated from milk fat droplets (34). We are in the process of testing this possibility in the cell system described herein.
Recently, a study by Brasaemle et al. (10) showed by mass spectrometry and immunofluorescence that ADRP was associated with the lipid droplets after 2 h of isoproterenol treatment in 3T3-L1 cells. This was a somewhat surprising result because the protein was previously thought not to be expressed in this cell line. However, we show here that ADRP shows the same behavior in two additional adipocyte cell lines. Consequently, the phenomenon of ADRP association with lipid droplets in adipocytes seems to be a general one and underscores the need for such droplets to be protected under conditions of enhanced adipocyte lipolytic stimulation. This is likely to be an important physiological mechanism for the regulation of lipid metabolism.
| MATERIALS AND METHODS |
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Primary Antibodies
The polyclonal antiperilipin antibody, specific for the C terminus of perilipin A was generated using a C-terminal peptide as described (18). The polyclonal anti-ADRP antibody was generated against a mouse sequence and the polyclonal anti-HSL antibody was raised against a peptide sequence of rat HSL as described in Souza et al. (16). All three of these antibodies were affinity purified and used for Western blotting at the following concentrations: perilipin (1:3000), ADRP (1:1000), and HSL (1:1500). Guinea pig anti-ADRP used for the double-label experiment of Fig. 3B
was purchased from Research Diagnostics (Concord, MA) and used as directed.
Cell Culture
Murine NIH-3T3 fibroblasts ectopically expressing either PPAR
or C/EBP
were cultured, maintained, and differentiated as described previously (25, 26). Briefly, cells were plated and grown in DMEM containing 10% fetal bovine serum and 2.0 µg/ml puromycin. At 2 d after confluence (d 0), cells were induced by changing the medium to DMEM containing 10% fetal bovine serum, 0.5 mM 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine, 1 µM dexamethasone, 1.7 µM insulin, and 5 µM troglitazone. After 48 h, the induction media were removed and cells were maintained in DMEM containing 10% fetal bovine serum and 5 µM troglitazone. Mouse embryonic fibroblasts were obtained from perilipin null animals (Greenberg, A. S., unpublished data) and converted to adipocytes by retroviral-mediated PPAR
infection as previously described (29, 30, 31). These were cultured and differentiated in the same way as described above.
Preparation of Whole Cell Extracts
At the indicated times, cultured cells grown in 6-cm dishes were rinsed three times with PBS and then harvested in ice-cold buffer containing 50 mM Tris (pH 7.4), 100 mM NaCl, 1% Triton X-100, 1 µM pepstatin, 1 µM aprotinin, and 10 µM leupeptin. In addition, the phosphatase inhibitors sodium fluoride (20 mM) and sodium orthovanadate (2 mM) were added to the lysis buffer to detect phosphorylated proteins. Lysates were vortexed and stored at 20 C until ready for further analysis. When ready to be analyzed, samples were thawed, vortexed, and spun for 20 min at 16,000 x g in a microcentrifuge at 4 C. The supernatants were collected and the protein content was determined using the bicinchoninic acid (BCA) kit (Pierce, Rockford, IL).
Gel Electrophoresis and Immunoblotting
Proteins were separated by SDS-PAGE (acrylamide from National Diagnostics) as described by Laemmli (35) and electrophoretically transferred to polyvinylidene difluoride membrane (Bio-Rad, Hercules, CA) in 25 mM Tris, 192 mM glycine. The membrane was then blocked with 10% nonfat dry milk in PBS containing 2% Tween 20 for 1 h at room temperature. The membranes were then incubated with the primary antibodies described above. Horseradish peroxidase-conjugated secondary antibodies (Sigma) and either an enhanced chemiluminescent substrate kit (PerkinElmer Life and Analytical Sciences, Inc., Boston, MA) or Super Signal West Femto Maximum Sensitivity Substrate kit (Pierce, Rockford, IL) was used for detection.
Lipolysis
Cells were grown to confluence in 12-well plates and induced to differentiate as described above. On the day of the experiment, adipocytes were washed three times with warm DMEM and then treated with 10 µM isoproterenol in the presence of DMEM containing 2% BSA (fatty acid free) in a total volume of 500 µl. Aliquots were removed at 1, 2, and 4 h of stimulation and the glycerol content of each of these was measured using the Triglyceride (GPO) Reagent Set (Pointe Scientific, Brussels, Belgium) and measured at 540 nm against a set of glycerol standards. Cells were then washed with cold PBS, lysed with a 1% Triton X-100 buffer, and the protein concentration was determined and used to normalize glycerol release.
Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy
Cells were grown on two-well chamber slides (Fisher Scientific, Pittsburgh, PA) or 35-mm glass bottom microwell dishes (MatTek, Ashland, MA) to confluence and were induced to differentiate 2 d after confluence as already described. On d 10 of differentiation, adipocytes were washed three times with warm DMEM and then treated with 10 µM isoproterenol for 2 h in the presence of DMEM containing 2% BSA (fatty acid free). Cells were washed with PBS and then fixed with 3.7% formaldehyde in PBS for 15 min at room temperature. They were then washed three more times with PBS and then kept overnight at 4 C. The next day, the cells were permeabilized with 0.1% Triton X-100 in PBS for 5 min and then blocked for 1 h at room temperature in a PBS solution containing 5% donkey serum (Sigma). Staining was performed with rabbit polyclonal anti-ADRP antibody at room temperature at a dilution of 1/100 in blocking solution. Four more washes with PBS were then performed and the cells were covered in aluminum foil and incubated for 1 h at room temperature with antirabbit Cy-conjugated secondary antibody (Jackson ImmunoResearch Laboratories, Inc.) at a dilution of 1/200 in blocking solution. The cells were washed again with PBS and then mounted with a glycerol/PBS solution (Component A of the SlowFade Antifade Kit from Molecular Probes, Eugene, OR). For the double staining experiments, the primary antibody incubation was performed overnight at 4 C using antirabbit ADRP and antiguinea pig perilipin antibodies at a concentration of 1:100. Incubation with the conjugated secondary antibodies was performed for 1 h at room temperature using an antirabbit Cy3 and an antiguinea pig Cy2, both diluted 1:200. Cells stained with only the secondary antibody were used to determine the fluorescent exposure settings, and all experiments were analyzed at the same voltage and aperture settings as used for controls. The stained cells were observed using a Zeiss 510 confocal laser-scanning microscope (Carl Zeiss, Thornwood, NY). Images were processed using LSM 5 Image software. For the double label experiment of Fig. 3B
, cells were prepared as described above, incubated with guinea pig antiperilipin (16) or rabbit anti-ADRP antibodies as described above, then incubated with the appropriate Alexa-derivatized secondary antibodies. Confocal microscopy was performed using a Leica (Exton, PA) TCS SP2 instrument in the Tufts/New England Medical Center Imaging Facility.
Adenoviral Infection
Adenovirus expressing PKA site-mutated perilipin A (Peri A
16) was generated as described (18) using the AdEasy adenoviral vector system (Stratagene, La Jolla, CA). Briefly, perilipin cDNA was subcloned into the pShuttle-CMV vector that was then linearized and cotransformed with supercoiled viral DNA plasmid pAdEasy into BJ5183 bacterial cells. The adenovirus expressing the Aequoria victoria GFP was generated by cloning the GFP from pEGFPC1 (CLONTECH, Palo Alto, CA) into pLEP-hCMV, a pLEP3 derivative as described (16). The recombinant DNAs were transfected into human embryonic kidney 293 cells in which viral assembly genes were complemented. Adenoviral amplification was performed and the adenoviruses were purified and concentrated by CsCl ultracentrifugation to 0.6 x 1012 plaque-forming units/ml. Cells were infected on either d 3 or 6 (both with similar results) by incubation with Lipofectamine and Plus Reagent (Invitrogen) for 3 h at a multiplicity of infection of 1000 plaque-forming units/cell.
| FOOTNOTES |
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This work was supported by National Institutes of Health Grants DK30425 and 56935 (to P.F.P.) and DK50647 (to A.S.G.) and grants from the American Diabetes Association, U.S. Dept of Agriculture, Agriculture Research Service, contract 52-KO6-5-10.
First Published Online October 20, 2005
Abbreviations: ADRP, Adipocyte differentiation-related protein; C/EBP, CCAAT/enhancer binding protein; GFP, green fluorescent protein; HSL, hormone-sensitive lipase; PKA, protein kinase A; PPAR, peroxosime proliferator-activated receptor.
Received for publication August 5, 2005. Accepted for publication September 26, 2005.
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D. L. Brasaemle Thematic review series: Adipocyte Biology. The perilipin family of structural lipid droplet proteins: stabilization of lipid droplets and control of lipolysis J. Lipid Res., December 1, 2007; 48(12): 2547 - 2559. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
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J. Kovsan, R. Ben-Romano, S. C. Souza, A. S. Greenberg, and A. Rudich Regulation of Adipocyte Lipolysis by Degradation of the Perilipin Protein: NELFINAVIR ENHANCES LYSOSOME-MEDIATED PERILIPIN PROTEOLYSIS J. Biol. Chem., July 27, 2007; 282(30): 21704 - 21711. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
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