Identification of Correlative Shifts in Indices of Brain Cholesterol Metabolism in the C57BL6/Mecp2tm1.1Bird Mouse, a Model for Rett Syndrome
Abstract
Rett syndrome (RS) is a pervasive neurodevelopmental disorder resulting from loss-of-function mutations in the X-linked gene methyl-Cpg-binding protein 2 (MECP2). Using a well-defined model for RS, the C57BL6/Mecp2tm1.1Bird mouse, we have previously found a moderate but persistently lower rate of cholesterol synthesis, measured in vivo, in the brains of Mecp2-/y mice, starting from about the third week after birth. There was no genotypic difference in the total cholesterol concentration throughout the brain at any age. This raised the question of whether the lower rate of cholesterol synthesis in the mutants was balanced by a fall in the rate at which cholesterol was converted via cholesterol 24-hydroxylase (Cyp46A1) to 24S-hydroxycholesterol (24S-OHC), the principal route through which cholesterol is ordinarily removed from the brain. Here, we show that while there were no genotypic differences in the concentrations in plasma and liver of three cholesterol precursors (lanosterol, lathosterol, and desmosterol), two plant sterols (sitosterol and campesterol), and two oxysterols (27-hydroxycholesterol [27-OHC] and 24S-OHC), the brains of the Mecp2 -/y mice had significantly lower concentrations of all three cholesterol precursors...Continue Reading
References
Lovastatin fails to improve motor performance and survival in methyl-CpG-binding protein2 -null mice
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