Table 2.
Expression of selected cholesterol homeostasis genes and corresponding cholesterol uptake rates in CTB and STB.
| Steady State | LXR Agonist Stimulation | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CTB | STB | CTB | STB | |
| mRNA Levels | ||||
| SR-B1 (×10−3) | 13.4 ± 5.90 | 15.0 ± 5.95 A | 16.4 ± 4.90 X | 21.2 ± 5.98 B,Y |
| LDL-R (×10−3) | 14.8 ± 8.7 a,* | 15.8 ± 10.9 A | 67.1 ± 54.6 b,* | 44.5 ± 25.9 B |
| ABCA1 (×10−3) | 13.7 ± 8.76 a | 21.0 ± 20.4 A | 132.8 ± 76.9 b | 117.8 ± 42.0 B |
| SREBP-2 (×10−2) | 3.6 ± 2.2 a | 4.7 ± 4.4 A | 8.6 ± 5.5 b | 7.4 ± 3.2 B |
| ApoA-1 (×10−5) | 6.9 ± 3.6 | 9.7 ± 12 | 6.6 ± 5 | 6.3± 2.7 |
| Cholesterol Uptake (CU) | ||||
| % CU | 13.5 ± 3.60 | 15.1 ± 3.98 A | 13.4 ± 3.75 X | 21.8 ± 3.49 B,Y |
| Correlation Coefficients | ||||
| CU vs. SR-B1 mRNA |
r = −0.3; p = 0.302 |
r = 0.5; p = 0.094 |
r = 0.2; p = 0.478 |
r = 0.2; p = 0.56 |
| CU vs. LDL-R |
r = −0.52; p = 0.078 |
r = −0.16; p = 0.60 |
r = 0.59; p = 0.04 |
r = −0.07; p = 0.80 |
| CU vs. SREBP-2 mRNA |
r = 0.7; p = 0.010 |
r = 0.6; p = 0.041 |
r = 0.8; p = 0.004 |
r = 0.2; p = 0.57 |
Data are mean ± SD of at least three independent experiments. a,b: different small letters indicate significant (p < 0.05) treatment effect in CTB. A,B: different capital letters indicate significant (p < 0.05) treatment effect in STB. X,Y: different letters indicate significant (p < 0.05) differences between CTB and STB within each treatment regime (i.e., steady state and LXR agonist stimulation, respectively). T0901317 (0.1 µM) was used as LXR agonist. CTB: primary undifferentiated trophoblast cells, STB: differentiated trophoblast cells, SR-B1: scavenger receptor B 1, LDL-R: low density lipoprotein receptor, ABCA1: ATP-binding cassette transporter A1, SREBP-2: sterol response element binding protein 2; apoA-1: apolipoprotein A1. * p ≤ 0.1.