Cited by 117Cholesterol and Lipid MetabolismLipid metabolism and biosynthesisSteroid Chemistry and Biochemistry

Cholesterol Biosynthesis and Uptake in Developing Neurons

Open access
Genaro-Mattos, Thiago C., Anderson, Allison, Allen, Luke B., Korade, Zeljka, Mirnics, Károly·2019·ACS Chemical Neuroscience

Abstract

Brain cholesterol biosynthesis, a separate and distinct process from whole-body cholesterol homeostasis, starts during embryonic development. To gain a better understanding of the neuronal and glial contributions to the brain cholesterol pool, we studied this process in control, Dhcr7 –/–, and Dhcr24 –/– cell cultures. Our LC-MS/MS method allowed us to measure several different sterol intermediates and cholesterol during neuronal differentiation. We found that developing cortical neurons rely on endogenous cholesterol synthesis and utilize ApoE-complexed cholesterol and sterol precursors from their surroundings. Both developing neurons and astrocytes release cholesterol into their local environment. Our studies also uncovered that developing neurons produced significantly higher amounts of cholesterol per cell than the astrocytes. Finally, we established that both neurons and astroglia preferentially use the Bloch sterol biosynthesis pathway, where desmosterol is the immediate precursor to cholesterol. Overall, our studies suggest that endogenous sterol synthesis in developing neurons is a critical and complexly regulated homeostatic process during brain development.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1021/acschemneuro.9b00248

Cites

49 of 49 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Astrocytes produce excess cholesterol and secrete most of the produced cholesterol for use by neurons.

    “Astrocytes produce excess cholesterol and secrete most of the produced cholesterol for use by neurons7.”

    From An iPSC-derived astrocyte model of fragile X syndrome exhibits dysregulated cholesterol homeostasis (2023) · cites this paper as [7]

    The Results and Discussion section reports that, in cholesterol-free cultures, astrocytes secreted most of their newly synthesized cholesterol. The neuronal-uptake section shows that neurons can take up ApoE-bound cholesterol, but it does not show that they used the cholesterol secreted by those astrocytes; it also says astrocytic support is unlikely during embryonic development. Page numbers are unavailable in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. [32]FitzPatrick DR, Keeling JW, Evans MJ, Kan AE, Bell JE, Porteous ME, Mills K, Winter RM, and Clayton PT (1998) Clinical phenotype of desmosterolosis. Am. J. Med. Genet 75, 145– 52. 9450875

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Genaro-Mattos, T. C., Anderson, A., Allen, L. B., Korade, Z., & Mirnics, K.
Affiliations
  • Munroe-Meyer Institute for Genetics and Rehabilitation, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska 68105, United States
  • University of Nebraska Medical Center (US)
  • Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska 68198, United States
Corresponding author
Mirnics, Károly
Venue
ACS Chemical Neuroscience
Published
2019-06-07
Volume
10
Issue
8
Pages
3671-3681
ISSN
1948-7193 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2950398114
Cited by
117
References
49
Citations by year
2026: 17 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 19 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 22 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 8
FWCI
10.03
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • ACS Chemical Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
National Institute of Mental Health (R01 MH110636, R01 MH067234)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Surgery › Cholesterol and Lipid Metabolism
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Biochemistry › Lipid metabolism and biosynthesis
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Steroid Chemistry and Biochemistry
Keywords
cholesterol absorption, developing neurons, cortical neurons, astrocytes, DHCR7, DHCR24, sterol intermediates, desmosterol, neuronal differentiation, brain development, cholesterol homeostasis
MeSH terms
Animals, Astrocytes, Biological Transport, Brain, Cholesterol, Chromatography, Liquid, Neurons, Sterols, Mice, Tandem Mass Spectrometry

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review