| First Author | Shmarakov I | Year | 2010 |
| Journal | Arch Biochem Biophys | Volume | 504 |
| Issue | 1 | Pages | 3-10 |
| PubMed ID | 20470748 | Mgi Jnum | J:169274 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:4940178 | Doi | 10.1016/j.abb.2010.05.010 |
| Citation | Shmarakov I, et al. (2010) Hepatic stellate cells are an important cellular site for beta-carotene conversion to retinoid. Arch Biochem Biophys 504(1):3-10 |
| abstractText | Hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) are responsible for storing 90-95% of the retinoid present in the liver. These cells have been reported in the literature also to accumulate dietary beta-carotene, but the ability of HSCs to metabolize beta-carotene in situ has not been explored. To gain understanding of this, we investigated whether beta-carotene-15,15'-monooxygenase (Bcmo1) and beta-carotene-9',10'-monooxygenase (Bcmo2) are expressed in HSCs. Using primary HSCs and hepatocytes purified from wild type and Bcmo1-deficient mice, we establish that Bcmo1 is highly expressed in HSCs; whereas Bcmo2 is expressed primarily in hepatocytes. We also confirmed that HSCs are an important cellular site within the liver for accumulation of dietary beta-carotene. Bcmo2 expression was found to be significantly elevated for livers and hepatocytes isolated from Bcmo1-deficient compared to wild type mice. This elevation in Bcmo2 expression was accompanied by a statistically significant increase in hepatic apo-12'-carotenal levels of Bcmo1-deficient mice. Although apo-10'-carotenal, like apo-12'-carotenal, was readily detectable in livers and serum from both wild type and Bcmo1-deficient mice, we were unable to detect either apo-8'- or apo-14'-carotenals in livers or serum from the two strains. We further observed that hepatic triglyceride levels were significantly elevated in livers of Bcmo1-deficient mice fed a beta-carotene-containing diet compared to mice receiving no beta-carotene. Collectively, our data establish that HSCs are an important cellular site for beta-carotene accumulation and metabolism within the liver. |
