Lipoprotein secretion by cultured hamster hepatocytes.

Cholesterol metabolism i n the hamster has been shown to resemble that in the human in many aspects, including bile acid production, whole body and hepatic cholesterol synthesis, the plasma lipoprotein profile 11 1. and the ability to produce lithogenic bile in response to various dietary manipulations 121. The hamster, therefore, should provide a good model for human cholesterol metabolism. Recently, we have characterised cholesterol metabolism in primary cultured hamster hepatocytes. in terms of cholesterol synthesis and esterification, cholesteryl ester hydrolysis and bile acid synthesisl3l. In the present study we have further characterised cholesterol metabolism in this system by studying lipoprotein secretion. Hamster hepatocytes were prepared as before 141. After the initial 4h of culture, when the cells had adhered to the dishes, the medium containing fetal calf serum and insulin was removed, the cells washed twice with Williams' medium E without fetal calf serum and insulin, and 2ml of similar medium was added to each dish. This represents time zero in all experiments. and at various time points over 24h of culture, the medium was collected and analysed for apolipoproteins and lipids. Lipoproteins secreted by cultured hamster hepatocytes were obtained by ultracentrifugation 151, and the apolipoproteins were analysed by SDS-PAGE 161. The results (Figure I ) show that the major apolipoproteins synthesized by hamster hepatocytes are apoB100. apoA-I, apoE and apoCs. This is a similar pattern to that reported for the rat 171, except in the rat, the apoA-I was found to be a minor constituent of the apolipoproteins synthesized, and that significant amounts of apoA-IV and apoB-48 were also found.