Plasma Membrane Effects of Sphingolipid-Synthesis Inhibition by Myriocin in CHO Cells: A Biophysical and Lipidomic Study

Abstract

Two main strategies for establishing the cellular effects of a given enzyme activity suppression are (a) the use of a stably mutated cell line that lacks a functional gene, or (b) treating the wild type with an inhibitory compound that affects the same gene-product protein. In this work, myriocin was used to block the serine palmitoyltransferase (SPT) enzyme of CHO cells and the subsequent biophysical changes in membranes were measured and compared with results obtained with a genetically modified CHO cell line containing a defective SPT (the LY-B cell line). Similar effects were observed with both approaches: sphingomyelin values were markedly decreased in myriocin-treated CHO cells and, in consequence, their membrane molecular order (measured as laurdan general polarization) and mechanical resistance (AFM-measured breakthrough force values) happened to be lower than in the native, non-treated cells. Cells treated with myriocin reacted homeostatically to maintain membrane order, synthesizing more fully saturated and less polyunsaturated glycerophospholipids than the non-treated ones, although they achieved it only partially, their plasma membranes remaining more fluid and less penetrable than those from the control cells.