Plasma membrane sphingomyelin and the regulation of HMG-CoA reductase activity and cholesterol biosynthesis in cell cultures.

We have examined the mechanism of the inhibition of cholesterol synthesis in cells treated with exogenous sphingomyelinase. Treatment of rat intestinal epithelial cells (IEC-6), human skin fibroblasts (GM-43), and human hepatoma (HepG2) cells in culture with sphingomyelinase resulted in a concentration- and time-dependent inhibition of the activity of HMG-CoA reductase, a key regulatory enzyme in cholesterol biosynthesis. The following observations were obtained with IEC-6 cells. Free fatty acid synthesis or general cellular protein synthesis was unaffected by the addition of sphingomyelinase. Addition of sphingomyelinase to the in vitro reductase assay had no effect on activity, suggesting that an intact cell system is required for the action of sphingomyelinase. The products of sphingomyelin hydrolysis, e.g., ceramide and phosphocholine, had no effect on reductase activity. Sphingosine, a further product of ceramide metabolism, caused a stimulation of reductase activity. Examination of the incorporation of [3H]acetate into the nonsaponifiable lipid fractions in the presence of sphingomyelinase showed no changes in the percent distribution of radioactivity in the post-mevalonate intermediates of the cholesterol biosynthetic pathway, but there was increased radioactivity associated with the polar sterol fraction. Pretreatment of cells with ketoconazole, a known inhibitor of oxysterol formation, prevented the inhibition of reductase activity by sphingomyelinase and decreased the incorporation of [3H]acetate in the polar sterol fraction. Ketoconazole had no effect on exogenous sphingomyelinase activity in vitro in the presence or absence of cells. Endogenous sphingomyelinase activity was also unaffected by ketoconazole. Addition of inhibitors of endogenous sphingomyelinase activity, e.g., chlorpromazine, desipramine, and N-(6-aminohexyl)-5-chloro-1-naphthalene sulfonamide (W-7), to the culture medium caused a dose-dependent stimulation of reductase activity. However, these agents had no effect on the inhibition of reductase activity by exogenous sphingomyelinase. Treatment of cells with small unilamellar vesicles of dioleyl phosphatidylcholine or high density lipoprotein3 resulted in increased efflux of cholesterol and stimulation of reductase activity. Under similar conditions, the inhibitory effect of exogenous sphingomyelinase on reductase activity was prevented by incubation with small unilamellar vesicles of phosphatidylcholine or high density lipoprotein. These results support the hypothesis that alteration of the ratio of sphingomyelin:cholesterol in the plasma membrane plays a modulatory role on the flow of membrane cholesterol to a site where it may be converted to a putative regulatory molecule, possibly an oxysterol.