Measurement of Fatty Acid β-Oxidation in a Suspension of Freshly Isolated Mouse Hepatocytes

Summary

Fatty acid β-oxidation is an essential metabolic pathway responsible for generating energy in many different cell types, including hepatocytes. Here, we describe a method to measure fatty acid β-oxidation in freshly isolated primary hepatocytes using ¹⁴C-labeled palmitic acid.

Abstract

Fatty acid β-oxidation is a key metabolic pathway to meet the energy demands of the liver and provide substrates and cofactors for additional processes, such as ketogenesis and gluconeogenesis, which are essential to maintain whole-body glucose homeostasis and support extra-hepatic organ function in the fasted state. Fatty acid β-oxidation occurs within the mitochondria and peroxisomes and is regulated through multiple mechanisms, including the uptake and activation of fatty acids, enzyme expression levels, and availability of cofactors such as coenzyme A and NAD⁺. In assays that measure fatty acid β-oxidation in liver homogenates, cell lysis and the common addition of supraphysiological levels of cofactors mask the effects of these regulatory mechanisms. Furthermore, the integrity of the organelles in the homogenates is hard to control and can vary significantly between preparations. The measurement of fatty acid β-oxidation in intact primary hepatocytes overcomes the above pitfalls. This protocol describes a method for the measurement of fatty acid β-oxidation in a suspension of freshly isolated primary mouse hepatocytes incubated with ¹⁴C-labeled palmitic acid. By avoiding hours to days of culture, this method has the advantage of better preserving the protein expression levels and metabolic pathway activity of the original liver, including the activation of fatty acid β-oxidation observed in hepatocytes isolated from fasted mice compared to fed mice.

Introduction

Fatty acid β-oxidation is an essential process in lipid metabolism, providing a catabolic pathway to balance fatty acid synthesis and intake from the diet. This process generates energy for multiple organs, including the cardiac muscle, kidney cortex, and fasted liver, and utilizes fatty acids obtained from the diet, adipose tissue lipolysis, and internal triglyceride stores^1,2.

Oxidation of fatty acid through the β-oxidation pathway results in the sequential shortening of the fatty acyl chain by two carbons at a time, released as acetyl-CoA, and this process occurs both i....

Protocol

All experimental procedures on mice (C57BL/6J, males, 9-11 weeks of age) were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUC) of West Virginia University.

1. Hepatocyte isolation

1. Preparation
   1. In the days before the hepatocyte isolation, prepare the buffers and cell culture media listed in Table 1. Set up a water bath with the temperature set to 37 °C close to where the surgery will be performed.
   2. On the day of the hepatocyte isolation, under a laminar flow hood, transfer 35 mL of Buffer 1 to a sterile 50 mL centrifuge tube and 70 mL of Buffer 2 to a 100 mL sterile beaker....

Results

The liver perfusion described here typically yields 30-40 million cells/liver with average viability of 80%, as estimated by trypan blue exclusion (Figure 2). The typical concentration of glucose in the Krebs-Henseleit buffer (KHB), which is used to prepare the perfusion Buffers 1 and 2, is 11 mM. When measuring fatty acid β-oxidation in hepatocytes isolated from fasted mice, the concentration of glucose in the KHB can be lowered to better represent the fasted state. As shown in

Discussion

During the liver perfusion, it is critical to avoid the introduction of air bubbles, as they block the microcapillaries in the liver, preventing or restricting the buffer circulation and overall decreasing the hepatocyte yield and viability^20,21. Precautions, such as closely inspecting the buffer-filled inlet line before cannulation of the IVC and avoiding lifting the inlet line off the tube containing Buffer 1 to switch to Buffer 2, as described herein, can succ.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
(R)-(+)-Etomoxir sodium salt	Tocris Bioscience	4539/10
[1-14C]-Palmitic acid, 50–60 mCi/mmol, 0.5 mCi/mL	American Radiolabeled Chemicals	ARC 0172A
1 M HEPES, sterile	Corning	25060CI
10 µL disposable capillaries/pistons for positive displacement pipette	Mettler Toledo	17008604
1000 µL, 200 µL, and 10 µL pipettes and tips
5 mL, 10 mL, and 25 mL serological pipettes
50 mL sterile centrifuge tubes	CellTreat	229421
70% Perchloric acid	Fisher Scientific	A2296-1LB
BSA, fatty acid-free	Fisher Scientific	BP9704100
CaCl2 dihydrate	MilliporeSigma	223506
D-(+)-Glucose	MilliporeSigma	G7021
EGTA	Gold Biotechnology	E-217
Ethanol	Pharmco	111000200CSPP
Filter System, 0.22 μm PES Filter, 500 mL, Sterile	CellTreat	229707
Gentamicin sulphate	Gold Biotechnology	G-400-25
HDPE, 6.5 mL scintillation vials	Fisher Scientific	03-342-3
Hemocytometer
Hypodermic needles 22 G, 1.5 in	BD Biosciences	305156
Isoflurane	VetOne	502017
KCl	Fisher Scientific	BP366-1
KH2PO4	MilliporeSigma	P5655
Liberase TM Research Grade	MilliporeSigma	5401119001	Defined blend of purified collagenase I and II with a medium concentration of thermolysin
M199 medium	MilliporeSigma	M5017
MgSO4 heptahydrate	MilliporeSigma	M1880
Microcentrifuge	Fisher Scientific		accuSpin Micro 17
Microdissecting Scissors	Roboz Surgical Instrument Co	RS-5980
NaCl	Chem-Impex International	30070
NaHCO3	Acros Organics	424270010
Palmitic acid	MilliporeSigma	P0500
Penicillin/streptomycin (100x)	Gibco	15140122
Phosphate buffered saline (PBS)	Cytiva Life Sciences	SH30256.01
Positive displacement pipette MR-10, 10 µL	Mettler Toledo	17008575
Refrigerated centrifuge with inserts for 50 mL conical tubes	Eppendorf		5810 R
Round-bottom, 14 mL, polypropylene culture test tubes	Fisher Scientific	14-956-9A
Scintillation counter	Perkin Elmer		TriCarb 4810 TR
ScintiVerse BD cocktail	Fisher Scientific	SX18-4
Shaking water bath, 30 L capacity	New Brunswick Scientific		Model G76
Sterile cell strainers, 100 µm	Fisher Scientific	22363549
Thumb Dressing Forceps	Roboz Surgical Instrument Co	RS-8120
Trypan Blue	Corning	25900CI
Variable-flow peristaltic pump	Fisher Scientific	138762
Water baths, 2–2.5 L capacity