Summary Inflammation and macrophage foam cells are characteristic features of atherosclerotic lesions, but the mechanisms linking cholesterol accumulation to inflammation and LXR-dependent response pathways are poorly understood. To investigate this relationship, we utilized lipidomic and transcriptomic methods to evaluate the effect of diet and LDL receptor genotype on macrophage foam cell formation within the peritoneal cavities of mice. Foam cell formation was associated with significant changes in hundreds of lipid species and unexpected suppression, rather than activation, of inflammatory gene expression. We provide evidence that regulated accumulation of desmosterol underlies many of the homeostatic responses observed in macrophage foam cells, including activation of LXR target genes, inhibition of SREBP target genes, selective reprogramming of fatty acid metabolism and suppression of inflammatory response genes. These observations suggest that macrophage activation in atherosclerotic lesions results from extrinsic, pro-inflammatory signals generated within the artery wall that suppress homeostatic and anti-inflammatory functions of desmosterol.

No abstract

Increased intramyocellular lipid concentrations are thought to play a role in insulin resistance, but the precise nature of the lipid species that produce insulin resistance in human muscle are unknown. Ceramides, either generated via activation of sphingomyelinase or produced by de novo synthesis, induce insulin resistance in cultured cells by inhibitory effects on insulin signaling. The present study was undertaken to determine whether ceramides or other sphingolipids are increased in muscle from obese insulin-resistant subjects and to assess whether ceramide plays a role in the insulin resistance of Akt in human muscle. Lean insulinsensitive and obese insulin-resistant subjects (n ‫؍‬ 10 each) received euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamps with muscle biopsies basally and after 30, 45, or 60 min of insulin infusion. The rate of glucose infusion required to maintain euglycemia (reflecting glucose uptake) was reduced by >50%, as expected, in the obese subjects at each time point (P < 0.01). Under basal conditions, total muscle ceramide content was increased nearly twofold in the obese subjects (46 ؎ 9 vs. 25 ؎ 2 pmol/2 mg muscle, P < 0.05). All species of ceramides were increased similarly in the obese subjects; in contrast, no other sphingolipid was increased. Stimulation of Akt phosphorylation by insulin in the obese subjects was significantly reduced after 30 min (0.96 ؎ 0.11 vs. 1.84 ؎ 0.38 arbitrary units) or 45-60 min (0.68 ؎ 0.17 vs. 1.52 ؎ 0.26) of insulin infusion (P < 0.05 for both). Muscle ceramide content was significantly correlated with the plasma free fatty acid concentration (r ‫؍‬ 0.51, P < 0.05). We conclude that obesity is associated with increased intramyocellular ceramide content. This twofold increase in ceramide may be involved in the decrease in Akt phosphorylation observed after insulin infusion and could theoretically play a role in the reduced ability of insulin to stimulate glucose uptake in skeletal muscle from obese subjects.

Sphingolipids are comprised of a backbone sphingoid base that may be phosphorylated, acylated, glycosylated, bridged to various headgroups through phosphodiester linkages, or otherwise modified. Organisms usually contain large numbers of sphingolipid subspecies and knowledge about the types and amounts is imperative because they influence membrane structure, interactions with the extracellular matrix and neighboring cells, vesicular traffic and the formation of specialized structures such as phagosomes and autophagosomes, as well as participate in intracellular and extracellular signaling. Fortunately, "sphingolipidomic" analysis is becoming feasible (at least for important subsets such as all of the backbone "signaling" subspecies: ceramides, ceramide 1-phosphates, sphingoid bases, sphingoid base 1-phosphates, inter alia) using mass spectrometry, and these profiles are revealing many surprises, such as that under certain conditions cells contain significant amounts of "unusual" species: N-mono-, di-, and tri-methyl-sphingoid bases (including N,N-dimethylsphingosine); 3-ketodihydroceramides; N-acetyl-sphingoid bases (C2-ceramides); and dihydroceramides, in the latter case, in very high proportions when cells are treated with the anticancer drug fenretinide (4-hydroxyphenylretinamide). The elevation of DHceramides by fenretinide is befuddling because the 4,5-trans-double bond of ceramide has been thought to be required for biological activity; however, DHceramides induce autophagy and may be important in the regulation of this important cellular process. The complexity of the sphingolipidome is hard to imagine, but one hopes that, when partnered with other systems biology approaches, the causes and consequences of the complexity will explain how these intriguing compounds are involved in almost every aspect of cell behavior and the malfunctions of many diseases.

No abstract