High doses of atorvastatin and simvastatin induce key enzymes involved in VLDL production.

Treatments with high doses of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitors may induce the expression of sterol regulatory element binding protein (SREBP)-target genes, causing different effects from those attributed to the reduction of hepatic cholesterol content. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of high doses of statins on the key enzymes involved in VLDL production in normolipidemic rats. To examine whether the effects caused by statin treatment are a consequence of HMG-CoA reductase inhibition, we tested the effect of atorvastatin on these enzymes in mevalonate-fed rats. Atorvastatin and simvastatin enhanced not only HMG-CoA reductase but also the expression of the SREBP-2 gene itself. As a result of the overexpression of SREBP-2 caused by the statin treatment, genes regulated basically by SREBP-1, as FA synthase and acetyl-coenzyme A carboxylase, were also induced and their mRNA levels increased. DAG acyltransferase and microsomal TG transfer protein mRNA levels as well as phosphatidate phosphohydrolase activity were increased by both statins. Simvastatin raised liver cholesterol content, ACAT mRNA levels, and CTP:phosphocholine cytidylyltransferase activity, whereas it reduced liver DAG and phospholipid content. Mevalonate feeding reversed all changes induced by the atorvastatin treatment. These results show that treatment with high doses of statins induces key enzymes controlling rat liver lipid synthesis and VLDL assembly, probably as a result of SREBP-2 overexpression. Despite the induction of the key enzymes involved in VLDL production, both statins markedly reduced plasma TG levels, suggesting that different mechanisms may be involved in the hypotriglyceridemic effect of statins at high or low doses.

Atorvastatin treatment induced peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha expression and decreased plasma nonesterified fatty acids and liver triglyceride in fructose-fed rats.

We aimed to investigate the effect of atorvastatin (5 and 30 mg/kg/day for 2 weeks) on hepatic lipid metabolism in a well established model of dietary hypertriglyceridemia, the fructose-fed rat. Fructose feeding (10% fructose in drinking water for 2 weeks) induced hepatic lipogenesis and reduced peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPARalpha) expression and fatty acid oxidation. As a result, plasma and liver triglyceride and plasma apolipoprotein B (apoB) levels were increased. Atorvastatin, 5 and 30 mg/kg during 2 weeks, markedly reduced plasma triglyceride, but decreased apoB levels only at the highest dose tested (50%). Triglyceride biosynthetic enzymes and microsomal triglyceride transfer protein were unchanged, whereas liver PPARalpha, acyl-CoA oxidase, and carnitine palmitoyltransferase I mRNA levels (1.9-, 1.25-, and 3.4-fold, respectively) and hepatic fatty acid beta-oxidation activity (1.25-fold) were increased by atorvastatin at 30 mg/kg. Furthermore, hepatic triglyceride content (45%) and plasma nonesterified fatty acids (NEFAs) (49%) were reduced. These results show for the first time that liver triglyceride increase in fructose-fed rats is linked to decreased expression of PPARalpha, which is prevented by atorvastatin treatment. The increase in PPARalpha expression caused by atorvastatin was associated with reduced liver triglyceride and plasma NEFA levels.

Increased reactive oxygen species production down-regulates peroxisome proliferator-activated alpha pathway in C2C12 skeletal muscle cells.

Generation of reactive oxygen species may contribute to the pathogenesis of diseases involving intracellular lipid accumulation. To explore the mechanisms leading to these pathologies we tested the effects of etomoxir, an inhibitor of carnitine palmitoyltransferase I which contains a fatty acid-derived structure, in C2C12 skeletal muscle cells. Etomoxir treatment for 24 h resulted in a down-regulation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPARalpha) mRNA expression, achieving an 87% reduction at 80 microm etomoxir. The mRNA levels of most of the PPARalpha target genes studied were reduced at 100 microm etomoxir. By using several inhibitors of de novo ceramide synthesis and C(2)-ceramide we showed that they were not involved in the effects of etomoxir. Interestingly, the addition of triacsin C, a potent inhibitor of acyl-CoA synthetase, to etomoxir-treated C2C12 skeletal muscle cells did not prevent the down-regulation in PPARalpha mRNA levels, suggesting that the active form of the drug, etomoxir-CoA, was not involved. Given that saturated fatty acids may generate reactive oxygen species (ROS), we determined whether the addition of etomoxir resulted in ROS generation. Etomoxir increased ROS production and the activity of the well known redox transcription factor NF-kappaB. In the presence of the pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate, a potent antioxidant and inhibitor of NF-kappaB activity, etomoxir did not down-regulate PPARalpha mRNA in C2C12 skeletal muscle cells. These results indicate that ROS generation and NF-kappaB activation are responsible for the down-regulation of PPARalpha and may provide a new mechanism by which intracellular lipid accumulation occurs in skeletal muscle cells.