Effect Of A Synthetic Liver X Receptor Agonist To901317 On Cholesterol Concentration In Goose Primary Hepatocytes

In this study, we investigated the role of liver X receptor (LXR) in regulating cholesterol concentration in goose primary hepatocytes. Intracellular and extracellular cholesterol concentration, mRNA expression levels of genes related to phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway, sterol regulatory element-binding protein 2 (SREBP-2), and 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase (HMGR) were measured in primary goose hepatocytes. We found that the intracellular cholesterol concentration showed an uptrend manner when the TO901317 concentration was under 1 mu mol/L; compared with 1 mu mol/L TO901317, 10 mu mol/L TO901317 had an inhibiting effect (P<0.05). The regulation mode of SREBP-2 and HMGR gene expression is similar with that of intracellular cholesterol concentration. These data suggested that LXR activation may stimulate the cholesterol biosynthesis by activating expression of SREBP-2 and HMGR. Interestingly, the mRNA levels of genes related with PI3K pathway increased in the presence of TO901317, which suggested that LXR activation could promote PI3K signalling activity.