| First Author | Kim HJ | Year | 2008 |
| Journal | Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A | Volume | 105 |
| Issue | 6 | Pages | 2094-9 |
| PubMed ID | 18238900 | Mgi Jnum | J:131829 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3774697 | Doi | 10.1073/pnas.0711599105 |
| Citation | Kim HJ, et al. (2008) Liver X receptor beta (LXRbeta): a link between beta-sitosterol and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-Parkinson's dementia. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 105(6):2094-9 |
| abstractText | Administration of beta-sitosterol (42 mg/kg per day) for 3 weeks to 8-month-old male LXRbeta-/- mice resulted in the death of motor neurons in the lumbar region of the spinal cord and loss of tyrosine hydroxylase-positive dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra. In mice at 5 months of age, beta-sitosterol had no observed toxicity but at 16 months of age, it caused severe paralysis and symptoms typical of dopaminergic dysfunction in LXRbeta-/- mice. WT mice were not affected by these doses of beta-sitosterol. In 5-month-old mice, levels of the intestinal transporters, ABCG5/8 and Niemann-Pick C1 Like 1, were not affected by loss of liver X receptor (LXR) beta and/or treatment with beta-sitosterol nor were there changes in plasma levels of cholesterol or beta-sitosterol. In 8-month-old LXRbeta-/- mice there was activation of microglia in the substantia nigra pars reticulata and aggregates of ubiquitin and TDP-43 in the cytoplasm of large motor neurons in the lumbar spinal cord. Brain cholesterol concentrations were higher in LXRbeta-/- than in their WT counterparts, and treatment with beta-sitosterol reduced brain cholesterol in both WT and LXRbeta-/- mice. In LXRbeta-/- mice but not in WT mice levels of 24-hydrocholesterol were increased upon beta-sitosterol treatment. These data indicate that multiple mechanisms are involved in the sensitivity of LXRbeta-/- mice to beta-sitosterol. These include activation of microglia, accumulation of protein aggregates in the cytoplasm of large motor neurons, and depletion of brain cholesterol. |
