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High fat diet induces ceramide and sphingomyelin formation in rat’s liver nuclei

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Abstract

Obesity increases the risk for hepatic steatosis. Recent studies have demonstrated that high fat diet (HFD) may affect sphingolipid formation in skeletal muscles, heart, and other tissues. In this work we sought to investigate whether HFD feeding provokes changes in content and fatty acids (FAs) composition of sphingomyelin and ceramide at the level of liver and hepatic nuclei. Furthermore, we investigated whether the ceramide formation is related to the activity of either neutral sphingomyelinase (N-SMase) or acidic sphingomyelinase (A-SMase). Three weeks of HFD provision induced pronounced ceramide and sphingomyelin accumulation in both liver and hepatic nuclei, accompanied by increased activity of N-SMase but not A-SMase. Furthermore, a shift toward greater FAs saturation status in these sphingolipids was also observed. These findings support the conclusion that HFD has a major impact on sphingolipid metabolism not only in the liver, but also in hepatic nuclei.

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Acknowledgment

This study was supported by Medical University of Bialystok (Grant No. 3-18787 and 3-18717).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology, Medical University of Białystok, ul. Mickiewicza 2C, 15-222, Białystok, Poland

    Grzegorz Chocian, Adrian Chabowski, Małgorzata Żendzian-Piotrowska, Ewa Harasim, Bartłomiej Łukaszuk & Jan Górski

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  1. Grzegorz Chocian
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Correspondence to Adrian Chabowski.

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Chocian, G., Chabowski, A., Żendzian-Piotrowska, M. et al. High fat diet induces ceramide and sphingomyelin formation in rat’s liver nuclei. Mol Cell Biochem 340, 125–131 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11010-010-0409-6

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