Egg-Yolk Sphingomyelin and Phosphatidylcholine Attenuate Cholesterol Absorption in Caco-2 Cells.

Phospholipids have been shown to modulate intestinal cholesterol absorption in cells and animals, a process that is regulated by several transporter proteins. Of these proteins, Niemann-Pick C1-Like 1 (NPC1L1) is a major contributor to this process. The mechanism by which phospholipids modulate cholesterol absorption remains unknown. Here, we evaluate the effects of egg-yolk phospholipids on cholesterol absorption and transport in human colon carcinoma cell line (Caco-2 cells) and on the expression of NPC1L1 and others proteins associated with cholesterol absorption (ABCG5, ABCG8, ABCA1, ACAT2, MTP, CAV-1, ANX-2). The roles of SREBP-1 and SREBP-2 in this process were also investigated. The results show that egg-yolk sphingomyelin (CerPCho) and phosphatidylcholine (PtdCho) inhibit cholesterol transport in the Caco-2 monolayer in a dose-dependent manner. These might be due to the decrease of the cholesterol solubility in micelles as well as to the increases in the micellar sizes and the bile acid-binding capacity. Furthermore, the treatments with egg-yolk CerPCho or PtdCho at 1.2 mmol/L reduced the expression levels of NPC1L1 protein to 21 or 22%, respectively, and its mRNA to 9 or 31% of that in the control group (p < 0.05). Moreover, there was a general inhibitory effect of egg-yolk PtdCho and CerPCho on the mRNA levels of SREBP-1, and SREBP-2. These results suggest that the inhibitory effect of egg-yolk CerPCho and PtdCho on cholesterol transport might be due to their interference with the physicochemical properties of micelles and their regulations on the expression of the NPC1L1 gene.