Skip to main content
The Journal of Cell Biology logoLink to The Journal of Cell Biology
. 1981 Dec 1;91(3):872–877. doi: 10.1083/jcb.91.3.872

Metabolism and intracellular localization of a fluorescently labeled intermediate in lipid biosynthesis within cultured fibroblasts

PMCID: PMC2112803  PMID: 7328126

Abstract

In this paper we report on the uptake and distribution of an exogenously supplied fluorescent phosphatidic acid analogue by Chinese hamster fibroblasts. Under appropriate in vitro incubation conditions, 1-acyl-2-(N-4-nitrobenzo-2-oxa-1,3-diazole)-aminocaproyl phosphatidic acid was rapidly and preferentially transferred from phospholipid vesicles to cells at 2 degrees C. However, unlike similar fluorescent derivatives of phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine that remain restricted to the plasma membrane under such incubation conditions (Struck, D. K., and R. E. Pagano. 1080. J. Biol. Chem. 255:5405--5410), most of the phosphatidic acid-derived fluorescence was localized at the nuclear membrane, endoplasmic reticulum, and mitochondria. This was shown by labeling cells with rhodamine- containing probes specific for mitochondria or endoplasmic reticulum, and comparing the patterns of intracellular NBD and rhodamine fluorescence. Extraction and analysis of the fluorescent lipids associated with the cells after treatment with vesicles at 2 degrees or 37 degrees C revealed that a large fraction of the fluorescent phosphatidic acid was converted to fluorescent diglyceride, phosphatidylcholine, and triglyceride. Our findings suggest that fluorescent phosphatidic acid may be useful in correlating biochemical studies of lipid metabolism in cultured cells and studies of the Intracellular localization of the metabolites by fluorescence microscopy. In addition, this compound provides a unique method for visualizing the endoplasmic reticulum in living cells.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (760.2 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. AMES B. N., DUBIN D. T. The role of polyamines in the neutralization of bacteriophage deoxyribonucleic acid. J Biol Chem. 1960 Mar;235:769–775. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Comfurius P., Zwaal R. F. The enzymatic synthesis of phosphatidylserine and purification by CM-cellulose column chromatography. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1977 Jul 20;488(1):36–42. doi: 10.1016/0005-2760(77)90120-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. FORD D. K., YERGANIAN G. Observations on the chromosomes of Chinese hamster cells in tissue culture. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1958 Aug;21(2):393–425. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Fambrough D. M., Devreotes P. N. Newly synthesized acetylcholine receptors are located in the Golgi apparatus. J Cell Biol. 1978 Jan;76(1):237–244. doi: 10.1083/jcb.76.1.237. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Heggeness M. H., Wang K., Singer S. J. Intracellular distributions of mechanochemical proteins in cultured fibroblasts. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1977 Sep;74(9):3883–3887. doi: 10.1073/pnas.74.9.3883. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Huang C. Studies on phosphatidylcholine vesicles. Formation and physical characteristics. Biochemistry. 1969 Jan;8(1):344–352. doi: 10.1021/bi00829a048. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Johnson L. V., Walsh M. L., Bockus B. J., Chen L. B. Monitoring of relative mitochondrial membrane potential in living cells by fluorescence microscopy. J Cell Biol. 1981 Mar;88(3):526–535. doi: 10.1083/jcb.88.3.526. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Kremer J. M., Esker M. W., Pathmamanoharan C., Wiersema P. H. Vesicles of variable diameter prepared by a modified injection method. Biochemistry. 1977 Aug 23;16(17):3932–3935. doi: 10.1021/bi00636a033. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Michell R. H. Inositol phospholipids and cell surface receptor function. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1975 Mar 25;415(1):81–47. doi: 10.1016/0304-4157(75)90017-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Nichols J. W., Pagano R. E. Kinetics of soluble lipid monomer diffusion between vesicles. Biochemistry. 1981 May 12;20(10):2783–2789. doi: 10.1021/bi00513a012. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Pagano R. E., Martin O. C., Schroit A. J., Struck D. K. Formation of asymmetric phospholipid membranes via spontaneous transfer of fluorescent lipid analogues between vesicle populations. Biochemistry. 1981 Aug 18;20(17):4920–4927. doi: 10.1021/bi00520a018. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Pagano R. E., Weinstein J. N. Interactions of liposomes with mammalian cells. Annu Rev Biophys Bioeng. 1978;7:435–468. doi: 10.1146/annurev.bb.07.060178.002251. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Schroit A. J., Pagano R. E. Capping of a phospholipid analog in the plasma membrane of lymphocytes. Cell. 1981 Jan;23(1):105–112. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(81)90275-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Slayback J. R., Cheung L. W., Geyer R. P. Quantitative extraction of microgram amounts of lipid from cultured human cells. Anal Biochem. 1977 Dec;83(2):372–384. doi: 10.1016/0003-2697(77)90046-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Stein O., Stein Y. Lecithin synthesis, intracellular transport, and secretion in rat liver. IV. A radioautographic and biochemical study of choline-deficient rats injected with choline-3H. J Cell Biol. 1969 Feb;40(2):461–483. doi: 10.1083/jcb.40.2.461. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Struck D. K., Hoekstra D., Pagano R. E. Use of resonance energy transfer to monitor membrane fusion. Biochemistry. 1981 Jul 7;20(14):4093–4099. doi: 10.1021/bi00517a023. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Struck D. K., Pagano R. E. Insertion of fluorescent phospholipids into the plasma membrane of a mammalian cell. J Biol Chem. 1980 Jun 10;255(11):5404–5410. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Virtanen I., Ekblom P., Laurila P. Subcellular compartmentalization of saccharide moieties in cultured normal and malignant cells. J Cell Biol. 1980 May;85(2):429–434. doi: 10.1083/jcb.85.2.429. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from The Journal of Cell Biology are provided here courtesy of The Rockefeller University Press

RESOURCES