Effect of rat plasma high density lipoprotein with or without apolipoprotein E on the cholesterol uptake and on the induction of the corticosteroid biosynthetic pathway in newborn rat adrenocortical cell cultures

Abstract High density lipoprotein (HDL) has been shown to induce the cellular accumulation of cholesterol esters and the biosynthesis of 21-hydroxysteroids (corticosteroids) newborn rat adrenocortical cells cultivated in serum-free medium. In order to identify the component(s) of HDL responsible for these effects, we investigated the ability of rat HDL subfractions and HDL with or without apolipoprotein E to deliver cholesterol to cells and to stimulate the steroid biosynthetic pathways in adrenal cultured cells. The total cholesterol uptake from HDL 2 was greater than that observed with HDL rich in apolipoprotein E (HDL 1 and HDL c ). Furthermore, the increase of the ratio between 21-hydro…