Inability to fully suppress sterol synthesis rates with exogenous sterol in embryonic and extraembyronic fetal tissues

The requirement for cholesterol is greater in developing tissues (fetus, placenta, and yolk sac) as compared to adult tissues. Here, we compared cholesterol-induced suppression of sterol synthesis rates in the adult liver to the fetal liver, fetal body, placenta, and yolk sac of the Golden Syrian hamster. Sterol synthesis rates were suppressed maximally in non-pregnant adult livers when cholesterol concentrations were increased. In contrast, sterol synthesis rates were suppressed only marginally in fetal livers, fetal bodies, placentas, and yolk sacs when cholesterol concentrations were increased. To begin to elucidate the mechanism responsible for the blunted response of sterol synthesis rates in fetal tissues to exogenous cholesterol, the ratio of sterol regulatory element-binding protein (SREBP) cleavage-activating protein (SCAP) to Insig-1 was measured in these same tissues since the ratio of SCAP to the Insigs can impact SREBP processing. The fetal tissues had anywhere from a 2- to 6-fold greater ratio of SCAP to Insig-1 than did the adult liver, suggesting constitutive processing of the SREBPs. As expected, the level of mature, nuclear SREBP-2 was not different in the fetal tissues with different levels of cholesterol whereas it was different in adult livers. These findings indicate that the suppression of sterol synthesis to exogenous sterol is blunted in developing tissues and the lack of response appears to be mediated at least partly through relative levels of Insigs and SCAP.