Life and Medical Sciences Institute, LIMES, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
PLoS One. 2012;7(2):e31342. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0031342. Epub 2012 Feb 14.
Ether lipids are ubiquitous constituents of cellular membranes with no discrete cell biological function assigned yet. Using fluorescent polyene-ether lipids we analyzed their intracellular distribution in living cells by microscopy. Mitochondria and the endoplasmic reticulum accumulated high amounts of ether-phosphatidylcholine and ether-phosphatidylethanolamine. Both lipids were specifically labeled using the corresponding lyso-ether lipids, which we established as supreme precursors for lipid tagging. Polyfosine, a fluorescent analogue of the anti-neoplastic ether lipid edelfosine, accumulated to mitochondria and induced morphological changes and cellular apoptosis. These data indicate that edelfosine could exert its pro-apoptotic power by targeting and damaging mitochondria and thereby inducing cellular apoptosis. In general, this study implies an important role of mitochondria in ether lipid metabolism and intracellular ether lipid trafficking.
醚脂是细胞膜中普遍存在的成分，但尚未确定其具有离散的细胞生物学功能。本研究使用荧光多烯醚脂通过显微镜分析了它们在活细胞中的细胞内分布。线粒体和内质网积累了大量的醚磷脂酰胆碱和醚磷脂酰乙醇胺。使用相应的溶血醚脂特异性标记这两种脂质，我们将其确立为脂质标记的最佳前体。多磷酸嗪是一种具有抗肿瘤作用的醚脂埃达福林的荧光类似物，它积聚在线粒体上，并诱导形态变化和细胞凋亡。这些数据表明，埃达福林可能通过靶向和损伤线粒体从而诱导细胞凋亡来发挥其促凋亡作用。总的来说，这项研究表明线粒体在醚脂代谢和细胞内醚脂运输中起着重要作用。
