Hepatosteatosis and estrogen increase apolipoprotein O production in the chicken

Apolipoprotein O (ApoO) is a recently discovered plasma apolipoprotein that may also play a role in the mitochondrial inner membrane. Possibly due to this complexity, its physiological functions have not been elucidated yet. To gain insight from a non-mammalian experimental system, we have investigated the regulation of ApoO levels in an alternative, well-suited model for studies on lipid metabolism, the chicken. qPCR using specific primer pairs and Western blot analysis with our rabbit anti-chicken ApoO antiserum demonstrated ApoO in the liver of chickens fed a control or a fat-enriched diet, as well as in 2 chicken hepatoma cell lines, LMH cells and the estrogen-responsive LMH-2A cells, under conditions of lipid loading by incubation with BSA-complexed oleic acid. Induced triglyceride accumulation in both the liver and the hepatic cells was associated with significantly increased levels of ApoO mRNA and protein. Furthermore, upon treatment for 24 h with estrogen of the estrogen receptor-expressing LMH-2A cells, quantitative analysis of ApoO transcripts and Western blotting revealed increases of ApoO expression. Finally, upon a single administration of estrogen to roosters that leads to hyperlipidemia, higher hepatic levels of both ApoO transcript and protein were observed within 24 h. Based on these data, we propose that hepatic expression of ApoO is tightly linked not only to diet-induced hepatosteatosis, but also to increased lipoprotein-production induced by, e.g., hormones. The findings support a role of ApoO as an effector of compromised mitochondrial function that likely accompanies the onset of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.