Developments in understanding bile acid metabolism

Long-Term Dietary Taurine Lowers Plasma Levels of Cholesterol and Bile Acids

Cholesterol is an essential lipid in vertebrates, but excess blood cholesterol promotes atherosclerosis. In the liver, cholesterol is metabolized to bile acids by cytochrome P450, family 7, subfamily a, polypeptide 1 (CYP7A1), the transcription of which is negatively regulated by the ERK pathway. Fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21), a hepatokine, induces ERK phosphorylation and suppresses Cyp7a1 transcription. Taurine, a sulfur-containing amino acid, reportedly promotes cholesterol metabolism and lowers blood and hepatic cholesterol levels. However, the influence of long-term feeding of taurine on cholesterol levels and metabolism remains unclear. Here, to evaluate the more chronic effects of taurine on cholesterol levels, we analyzed mice fed a taurine-rich diet for 14-16 weeks. Long-term feeding of taurine lowered plasma cholesterol and bile acids without significantly changing other metabolic parameters, but hardly affected these levels in the liver. Moreover, taurine upregulated Cyp7a1 levels, while downregulated phosphorylated ERK and Fgf21 levels in the liver. Likewise, taurine-treated Hepa1-6 cells, a mouse hepatocyte line, exhibited downregulated Fgf21 levels and upregulated promoter activity of Cyp7a1. These results indicate that taurine promotes cholesterol metabolism by suppressing the FGF21/ERK pathway followed by upregulating Cyp7a1 expression. Collectively, this study shows that long-term feeding of taurine lowers both plasma cholesterol and bile acids, reinforcing that taurine effectively prevents hypercholesterolemia.

A two-component micelle with emergent pH responsiveness by mixing dilauroyl phosphocholine and deoxycholic acid and its delivery of proteins into the cytosol

Providing appropriate pH responsiveness for drug delivery nanoparticles is one of the major issues in developing a new generation of delivery systems. This paper reports that, when phosphocholine and a bile acid were mixed, the resultant two-component micelle gained pH responsiveness, while the individual components did not show any such responsiveness. The pH responsiveness was shown to be determined by the chemical structure, especially the positions and chirality of the OH groups, of the bile acid, and the sensitivity was determined by the alkyl chain length of the phosphocholine. The best combination for evading endocytosis was dilauroyl phosphocholine (DLPC) and deoxycholic acid (DA). Small-angle X-ray scattering revealed that the pH responsiveness was related to the change of surface hydrophobicity, namely, decreasing pH led to protonation of the carboxylic acid, resulting in aggregation of the preceding micelles. We assume that particles that become hydrophobic in this way can start interacting with the endocytotic bilayer, which eventually leads to rupture of the endocytotic vesicle. This mechanism is well supported by the finding that fluorescein-conjugated ovalbumin proteins were transported into the cytosol when they were co-administered with DLPC/DA.

An in vitro test system for evaluation of SCAP–SREBP pathway inhibitory activities of Traditional Chinese Medicines

In vitro assay system demonstrates that Rhizoma Alismatis and Semen Cassiae show beneficial effects on inhibition of SCAP–SREBP pathway activities.