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The activity of 3‐hydroxy‐3‐methylglutaryl coenzyme a reductase and the rate of sterol synthesis diminish in cultures with high cell density
Author(s) -
Chen Harry W.
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
journal of cellular physiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.529
H-Index - 174
eISSN - 1097-4652
pISSN - 0021-9541
DOI - 10.1002/jcp.1041080112
Subject(s) - reductase , sterol , coenzyme a , biochemistry , enzyme , dna synthesis , biology , fatty acid synthesis , cofactor , dehydrogenase , cell growth , hydroxymethylglutaryl coa reductase , cell , chemistry , hmg coa reductase , cholesterol , dna
The specific activity of HMG‐CoA reductase, the major rate‐limiting enzyme in the sterol biosynthetic pathway, declined linearly with increasing cell density in four different lines of mammalian cell cultures. As expected, this caused the rates of sterol synthesis from [ 14 C]acetate to decline in a parallel manner. The decrease in reductase activity in the dense cultures was also correlated with decreased incorporation of [ 14 C]acetate into fatty acids and [ 3 H]thymidine into DNA. In contrast, the activities of two enzymes, NADH dehydrogenase and 5′‐nucleotidase, which are not involved in lipid synthesis, were independent of changes in cell density. The simplest explanation for these data is that HMG‐CoA reductase and the synthesis of sterol and fatty acids are regulated in concordance with the rate of cell growth and proliferation.