2. Academic Validation
  3. In vitro effects of sitosterol and sitostanol on mitochondrial respiration in human brown adipocytes, myotubes and hepatocytes

In vitro effects of sitosterol and sitostanol on mitochondrial respiration in human brown adipocytes, myotubes and hepatocytes

  • Eur J Nutr. 2020 Aug;59(5):2039-2045. doi: 10.1007/s00394-019-02052-y.
Emmani B M Nascimento 1,  Maurice Konings 1,  Gert Schaart 1,  Albert K Groen 2 3,  Dieter Lütjohann 4,  Wouter D van Marken Lichtenbelt 1,  Patrick Schrauwen 1,  Jogchum Plat 5
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Department of Nutrition and Movement Sciences, NUTRIM School of Nutrition and Translational Research in Metabolism, Maastricht University, Maastricht, 6200 MD, The Netherlands.
  • 2 Department of Vascular Medicine, Amsterdam Diabetes Center, Amsterdam University Medical Center, Amsterdam, 1105 AZ, The Netherlands.
  • 3 Department of Pediatrics, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, 9713 ZG, The Netherlands.
  • 4 Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Clinical Pharmacology, University Hospital, 53127, Bonn, Germany.
  • 5 Department of Nutrition and Movement Sciences, NUTRIM School of Nutrition and Translational Research in Metabolism, Maastricht University, Maastricht, 6200 MD, The Netherlands. [email protected].
PMID: 31317217 DOI: 10.1007/s00394-019-02052-y
Abstract

Purpose: Lowering of LDL Cholesterol levels by plant sterols and stanols is associated with decreased risk of Cardiovascular Disease in humans. Plant sterols and stanols also lower triacylglycerol (TG). However, it is not fully understood how reduction in TG is achieved and what the full potential of plant sterols and stanols is on whole-body metabolism. We here hypothesize that high levels of plant sterols and stanols stimulate whole-body energy expenditure, which can be attributed to changes in mitochondrial function of brown adipose tissue (BAT), skeletal muscle and liver.

Methods: Phytosterolemic mice were fed chow diets for 32 weeks to examine whole-body weight gain. In vitro, 24-h incubation were performed in adipocytes derived from human BAT, human myotubes or HepG2 human hepatocytes using sitosterol or sitostanol. Following mitochondrial function was assessed using seahorse bioanalyzer.

Results: Chow feeding in phytosterolemic mice resulted in diminished increase in body weight compared to control mice. In vitro, sitosterol or sitostanol did not change mitochondrial function in adipocytes derived from human BAT or in cultured human myotubes. Interestingly, maximal mitochondrial function in HepG2 human hepatocytes was decreased following sitosterol or sitostanol incubation, however, only when mitochondrial function was assessed in low glucose-containing medium.

Conclusions: Beneficial in vivo effects of plant sterols and stanols on lipid and lipoprotein metabolism are well recognized. Our results indicate that alterations in human mitochondrial function are apparently not involved to explain these beneficial effects.

Keywords

Brown adipose tissue; Cellular respiration; Mitochondria; Sitostanol; Sitosterol.

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