Sphingomyelinase enzyme assay in Niemann-Pick disease

Niemann-Pick group of diseases are rare autosomal recessive disorders of lysosomal enzymes. These are divisible into six types depending on clinical and biochemical features. On the basis of sphingomyelinase assay in five cases of Niemann-Pick disease, three cases were classified as type IA, one as type IS and one as type IIS. Their clinicopathological profiles are compared with 17 cases reported previously from India.     

Imaging features of type-B Niemann-Pick disease

We report two cases of a mild form of type-B Niemann-Pick disease manifesting as an adult-onset chronic non-neuropathic clinical picture. Femoral T1- and T2-weighted low-intensity non-enhancing coarse bone marrow pattern was evident on femoral MR associated with splenic hypodense nodule(s) on abdominal CT. The role of imaging is discussed in relation to current techniques of confirmation of this entity based on demonstration of lipid-laden cells within marrow aspirates (which are often sea-blue histiocytes) and sphingomyelinase assay of cultured skin fibroblasts. Received 11 December 1995; Revision received 6 May 1996; Accepted 10 July 1996     

An unusual case of phospholipidosis

Summary We present the results of a structural, histochemical and lipid-chromatographic study of tissues obtained at postmortem from an unusual case of phospholipidosis. A previous biopsy of the appendix and liver (Elleder et al., 1975a) had revealed a predominance of phosphoglyceride storage, principally of lysobisphosphatidic acid (LBPA) postmortem material showed that this lipid was stored exclusively in central neurons. In the spleen and the lymph node, however, sphingomyelin (SP) was shown, histochemically and chromatographically, to be the main lipid stored. Total sphingomyelinase (SPase) activity in the appendix was reduced to about 50% of normal. Neuroaxonal dystrophy (NAD) and a conspicuous discrepancy between the degree of distension of some neurons and their lipid content deserve special mention. The case is contrasted with classical sphingomyelinosis; the complexity of the Niemann-Pick group of diseases is discussed as an indication of the difficulties of classification of any atypical case.     

Nipping disease in the bud: nSMase2 inhibitors as therapeutics in extracellular vesicle-mediated diseases

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are indispensable mediators of intercellular communication, but they can also assume a nefarious role by ferrying pathological cargo that contributes to neurological, oncological, inflammatory, and infectious diseases. The canonical pathway for generating EVs involves the endosomal sorting complexes required for transport (ESCRT) machinery, but an alternative pathway is induced by the enrichment of lipid membrane ceramides generated by neutral sphingomyelinase 2 (nSMase2). Inhibition of nSMase2 has become an attractive therapeutic strategy for inhibiting EV biogenesis, and a growing number of small-molecule nSMase2 inhibitors have shown promising therapeutic activity in preclinical disease models. This review outlines the function of EVs, their potential role in disease, the discovery and efficacy of nSMase2 inhibitors, and the path to translate these findings into therapeutics.     

Preparation of an anti-acid sphingomyelinase monoclonal antibody for the quantitative determination and polypeptide analysis of lysosomal sphingomyelinase in fibroblasts from normal and Niemann-Pick type A patients

An anti-acid sphingomyelinase monoclonal antibody has been prepared using an in vitro booster technique. The antigen, acid sphingomyelinase, was purified from human placentas by sequential chromatographic steps in the presence of the non-ionic detergent Nonidet P40. This monoclonal antibody (MAB 236) precipitates specifically the enzyme activity by immunoadsorption techniques and presents the same specificity to normal and mutated sphingomyelinase in Niemann-Pick type A patients. MAB 236 is the first antibody able to precipitate the protein in the presence of detergent thereby permitting the quantitative determination of normal and mutated sphingomyelinase in tissue and cell extracts. Polypeptide analysis and quantitative determination experiments using this monoclonal antibody showed no difference between patients and normal controls.     

Metabolism: Therapeutic Bone Marrow Transplantation in Niemann-Pick Mice

Mice with Niemann-Pick disease were treated with bone marrow transplantation. The loss of Purkinje cells remained unchanged, but the accumulation of sphingomy elin and cholesterol was reduced in the visceral organs, especially in the spleen, three weeks after marrow graft. The activity of acid sphingomyelinase was increased in the grafted liver of mice, and in the spleen this activity was elevated to normal levels.     

Lipid and lysosomal enzymes in human fibroblasts cultured with perhexiline maleate

Summary To understand the mechanism of the lysosomal lipid storage induced by perhexiline maleate, we performed simultaneous lipid analysis and lysosomal enzymes determinations. Human libroblasts were cultured for 5 days in the presence of perhexiline maleate at a concentration of 2 g/ml of culture medium. Lipid analysis showed that those non toxic levels determined the same changes as seen with higher concentrations of the drug (Hauw et al. 1980) i. e. increase of cholesterol and of all major phospholipids. Qualitative phsopholipid pattern was not markedly changed. Lysosomal enzymes activities were not modified with the exception of sphingomyelinase which was reduced to 12% of its normal level.     

Niemann-Pick disease type C

Summary A complex neuropathological study of two cases of Niemann-Pick disease (NPD) type C (NPDC) revealed some novel features in the chemical pathology of the neuronal storage. Lipid histochemistry showed the presence of a lipid which met the criteria of a neuronal glycosphingolipid. Sphingomyelin (SM) was not detected in the neurones in any of the regions examined. Lipid chemical analysis of total extracts and of partially purified lysosomal fraction of the brain cortex showed markedly increased levels of neutral ceramide hexosides especially of glucosylceramide and ceramide dihexoside (mostly of its slower band). Phospholipids were not significantly increased. Monosialogangliosides GM₂ and GM₃ were increased only slightly. The storage process displayed the well known fine structure and was accompanied by a marked secondary increase in some lysosomal enzyme activities. There was neuroaxonal dystrophy (NAD) of considerable intensity and extent. Many spheroids contianed masses of degenerated organelles and neurofilaments in various proportions and displayed variable activities of acid phosphatase, nonspecific esterase and dehydrogenases. There was marked brain atrophy accompanied in one case by severe demyelination. Enzyme studies revealed partial decrease of sphingomyelinase (SMase) and betaglucosidase activities in cultured fibroblasts, as well as lack of cathodic SMase activity on isoelectric focusing. No defects of these enzymes were found in the brain samples. The findings are regarded as significant since they indicate a biochemical defect in which SM is not primarily involved and which may thus be fundamentally different from that in type A of NPD.     

问号钩端螺旋体鞘磷脂酶类溶血素基因功能分析及其感染细胞后转录水平变化

目的 了解问号钩端螺旋体(简称钩体)鞘磷脂酶类溶血素基因sph1～sph4产物溶血活性及其感染细胞后转录水平的变化.方法 以致病性问号钩体黄疸出血群赖型赖株、波摩那群波摩那型罗株和非致病性双曲钩体三宝垄群Patoc型Patoc Ⅰ株基因组DNA为模板,采用PCR扩增全长sph1～spl4基因片段,扩增产物T-A克隆后测序.构建sph1～sph4基因原核表达系统,采用SDS-PAGE检测目的 重组蛋白rSph1～rSph4的表达情况,Ni-NTA亲和层析柱提纯rSph1～rSpM.采用绵羊血平板对rSph1～rSph4溶血活性进行鉴定,实时荧光定量RT-PCR检测问号钩体赖株感染J774A.1细胞前后sph1～sph4基因转录水平的变化.结果 问号钩体赖株和罗株基因组DNA中均能扩增sph1～sph4基因,双曲钩体Patoc Ⅰ株则否.与报道的相应基因序列比较,所克隆的sph1～sph4基因核苷酸序列相似性均为100%.所构建的原核表达系统能分别表达目的蕈组蛋白rSph1～rSph4.rSph1～rSph4均有溶血活性,其中以rSph2溶血活性最强.问号钩体赖株感染J774A.1细胞后,sph1～sph4基因转录水平均上调,其中sph2和sph4基因mRNA水平上调更为明显.结论 sph1～sph4基因仅存在于致病性问号钩体中,其表达产物有溶血活性.问号钩体赖株感染细胞后sph1～sph4基因转录水平的上调,提示此类鞘磷脂酶类溶血素可能在问号钩体感染宿主过程中有重要作用.     

Identification of three competitive inhibitors for membrane-associated, Mg2+-dependent and neutral 60 kDa sphingomyelinase activity

Methanol extracts of domestic plants of Korea were evaluated as a potential inhibitor of neutral pH optimum and membrane-associated 60 kDa sphingomyelinase (N-SMase) activity. In this study, we partially purified N-SMase from bovine brain membranes using ammonium sulfate. It was purified approximately 163-fold by the sequential use of DE52, Butyl-Toyopearl, DEAE-Cellulose, and Phenyl-5PW column chromatographies. The purified N-SMase activity was assayed in the presence of the plant extracts of three hundreds species. Based on the in vitro assay, three plant extracts significantly inhibited the N-SMase activity in a time- and concentration-dependent manner. To further examine the inhibitory pattern, a Dixon plot was constructed for each of the plant extracts. The extracts of Abies nephrolepis, Acer tegmentosum, and Ginkgo biloba revealed a competitive inhibition with the inhibition constant (Ki) of 11.9 microg/ mL, 9.4 microg/mL, and 12.9 microg/mL, respectively. These extracts also inhibited in a dose-dependent manner the production of ceramide induced by serum deprivation in human neuroblastoma cell line SH-SY5Y.