Evaluation of Lipid Droplet Size and Fusion in Bovine Hepatic Cells

Published: March 10, 2023

doi:

Jingna Yang, Fangyuan Kang, Anqi Wei, Wenyan Lu, Xinfu Zhang, Liqiang Han

¹College of Veterinary Medicine,Henan Agricultural University

Summary

The present protocol describes how to use oil red O to dye lipid droplets (LDs), calculate the size and number of LDs in a fatty acid-induced fatty hepatocyte model, and use BODIPY 493/503 to observe the process of small LDs fusing into large LDs by live cell imaging.

Abstract

Lipid droplets (LDs) are organelles that play an important role in lipid metabolism and neutral lipid storage in cells. They are associated with a variety of metabolic diseases, such as obesity, fatty liver disease, and diabetes. In hepatic cells, the sizes and numbers of LDs are signs of fatty liver disease. Moreover, the oxidative stress reaction, cell autophagy, and apoptosis are often accompanied by changes in the sizes and numbers of LDs. As a result, the dimensions and quantity of LDs are the basis of the current research regarding the mechanism of LD biogenesis. Here, in fatty acid-induced bovine hepatic cells, we describe how to use oil red O to stain LDs and to investigate the sizes and numbers of LDs. The size distribution of LDs is statistically analyzed. The process of small LDs fusing into large LDs is also observed by a live cell imaging system. The current work provides a way to directly observe the size change trend of LDs under different physiological conditions.

Introduction

Lipid droplet (LD) accumulation in hepatocytes is the typical characteristic of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which can progress to liver fibrosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. It has been found that the earliest manifestation of fatty liver disease is steatosis, characterized by LD accumulation in the cytoplasm of the hepatocyte¹. Liver steatosis is invariably associated with an increased number and/or expanded size of LDs². LDs are thought to be generated from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), consisting of triglyceride (TG) as the core, and are surrounded by proteins and phospholipids³. As the subcellular organelle responsible for TG storage, LDs exhibit different features regarding their size, number, lipid composition, proteins, and interaction with other organelles, all of which affect cell energy homeostasis⁴. The TG level is positively correlated with the size of LDs, and a higher intracellular TG content could form larger LDs⁵. LDs increase in size through the local synthesis of TG, lipid incorporation in the ER, and the fusion of multiple LDs⁶. Cells (adipocytes, hepatocytes, etc.) that contain large LDs have a special mechanism to efficiently increase lipid storage by LD fusion. The dynamic changes of LDs reflect the different energy metabolism states of the cell. It is crucial to develop methodologies that allow the observation and analysis of the various hepatic LDs in healthy and abnormal cells.

The main non-fluorescent dyes for LDs are Sudan Black B and oil red O. Sudan Black B stains neutral lipids, phospholipids, and steroids⁷. Oil red O is mainly used for staining LDs of skeletal muscle, cardiomyocytes, liver tissue, adipose cells, etc⁸., and is considered a standard tool for the quantitative detection of liver steatosis in mice and humans⁹. The dynamic change of LDs is mainly carried out by fluorescence dyeing. Nile red and BODIPY are both commonly used fluorescent lipid dyes¹⁰^,¹¹. Compared with Nile red, BODIPY has stronger tissue permeability and binds better with LDs¹². BODIPY-labeled LDs can be used for staining living cells and colocalization with other organelles¹³.

The incidence of fatty liver disease is significantly higher in ruminant animals than in monogastric animals¹⁴. During the transition period, dairy cows experience a state of negative energy balance³. Large quantities of non-esterified fatty acids (palmitic acid, oleic acid, linoleic acid, etc.) are synthesized into TGs in bovine hepatocytes, which leads to liver functional abnormality and greatly reduces the quality of milk products and production efficiency¹⁵. The present study aims to provide a protocol to analyze the size and the number of LDs, as well as to monitor the LD fusion dynamics. We constructed a model of LD formation by adding different concentrations of linoleic acid (LA) in hepatocytes¹⁶ and observed the changes in the size and the number of LDs during the process by staining LDs with oil red O. In addition, the process of the rapid fusion of LDs was also observed by staining with BODIPY 493/503.

Protocol

All procedures were approved and performed in accordance with the ethical standards of the Animal Care Committee of Henan Agricultural University (Henan Province, China). 1. Bovine hepatocyte cell culture Thaw the primary hepatocyte cells17 and centrifuge 400 x g for 4 min at room temperature. NOTE: The primary hepatocyte cells were cultured and maintained following a previously published report17.</li…

Representative Results

The staining of cell LDs is shown in Figure 1. The red dots reflect cell LDs, and the blue dots reflect the nuclei. It can be seen that the size and number of LDs in each picture are different under the treatment of LA. With the increase in LA dosage, the average diameter and number of LDs showed a significantly increasing trend, depending on LA concentration (Figure 2). As shown in Figure 2A, the number …

Discussion

Depending on the pathological states, hepatic LDs undergo tremendous changes in their size and number. LDs are widely present in hepatocyte cells and play a key role in liver health and disease¹⁸. The quantity and size of LDs are the basis of the current research on the biogenesis of LDs¹⁹. The size and number of LDs for cells and tissues reflect their ability to store and release energy. The dynamic changes of LDs maintain the stability of lipid metabolic activities<sup cl…

Disclosures

The authors have nothing to disclose.

Acknowledgements

This research was jointly supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (U1904116).

Materials

0.25% trypsin	Gibco	25200072	reagent
4% paraformaldehyde	Solarbio	P1110	reagent
BODIPY 493/503	invitrogen	2295015	reagent
Cedar oil	Solarbio	C7140	reagent
cell counting chamber			equipment
cell culture dish	Corning	353002	material
cell sens software	Olympus IX73		software
Centrifuge	Eppendorf		equipment
DMEM	HyClone	SH30022.01	reagent
Fetal Bovine Serum	Gibco	2492319	reagent
hematoxylin	DingGuo	AR0712	reagent
Image view			image analysis sodtware
linoleic acid	Solarbio	SL8520	reagent
Live Cell Station	Nikon A1 HD25		equipment
NIS-Elements	Nikon		software
oil red O	Solarbio	G1260	reagent
optical microscope	Olympus IX73		equipment
Penicillin & Streptomycin 100×	NCM Biotech	CLOOC5	reagent
Phosphate Buffered Saline	HyClone	SH30258.01	reagent
Pipette	Eppendorf		equipment
Sealing agent	Solarbio	S2150	reagent

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Yang, J., Kang, F., Wei, A., Lu, W., Zhang, X., Han, L. Evaluation of Lipid Droplet Size and Fusion in Bovine Hepatic Cells. J. Vis. Exp. (193), e65234, doi:10.3791/65234 (2023).