Effects of cell density and cell proliferation on acid cholesterol esterase and cathepsin activity of cultured human skin fibroblasts.

We tested the effects of fibroblast cell density and proliferation on the activities of acid cholesterol esterase and cathepsins, the lysosomal enzymes which degrade low-density lipoprotein. Rates of cell proliferation were increased by: (1) fibroblast conditioned medium, (2) increasing the time since subculture from 3 to 7 days, and (3) decreasing the plating density of cells. Cathepsin activity was consistently decreased as cellular proliferation was increased by these various methods. Changes in acid cholesterol esterase activity were more variable. For example, acid cholesterol esterase activity was consistently a positive function of cell density only at densities under 3 micrograms protein/cm2, while cathepsin activity increased up to densities of 16 micrograms protein/cm2. However, the activities of both enzymes were lower at cell densities of under 3 micrograms cell protein/cm2 compared to confluent cultures. Sparse fibroblast cultures may provide a unique model system to study low-density lipoprotein metabolism since, at low cell density, LDL receptor activity is high while lysosomal activity is low, making it possible that lysosomal degradation could become the rate-limiting step in the process of LDL degradation rather than receptor-mediated internalization of the lipoprotein. This might then allow an accumulation of lipoprotein-derived cholesteryl esters in the cell. Such a model could be relevant to the propensity of arterial cells to become foam cells during atherogenesis.