Comparison of the compositions of phospholipid-associated fatty acids in wild-type and extracellular matrix tenascin-X-deficient mice.

Tenascin-X (TNX) is a member of the tenascin family of glycoproteins of the extracellular matrix. We previously showed that TNX regulates the synthesis of triglyceride and the composition of triglyceride-associated fatty acids. The aim of the present study was to determine whether TNX controls the synthesis of phospholipids and the composition of phospholipid-associated fatty acids by using TNX-deficient (TNX-/-) mice and TNX-overexpressing fibroblast cell lines. Thin-layer chromatography of total lipids of the skin and sciatic nerves from wild-type and TNX-/- mice revealed that the amounts of major phospholipids, phosphatidylcholine (PC) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), in wild-type and TNX-/- mice are not different. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry showed that the major fatty acid compositions of PC and PE in wild-type and TNX-/- mice are almost the same. Fibroblast cells stably overexpressing TNX also showed almost the same amounts of PC and PE and almost the same fatty acid compositions of PC and PE as those in mock-transfected cells. These results suggest that TNX regulates the amount of triglyceride and the composition of triglyceride-associated fatty acids but not the amount and species of phospholipids or the composition of phospholipid-associated fatty acids.