title: Endothelium in spots--high-content imaging of lipid rafts clusters in db/db mice.
abstract: Lipid rafts (LRs) are dynamic, sterol- and sphingolipid-enriched nanodomains involved in the regulation of cellular functions and signal transduction, that upon stimuli, via (e.g. association of raft proteins and lipids), may cluster into domains of submicron or micron scale. Up to date, however, lipid raft clusters were observed only under artificially promoted conditions and their formation in vivo has not been confirmed. Using non-destructive approach involving Raman and Atomic Force Microscopy imaging we demonstrated the presence of clustered lipid rafts in endothelium of the aorta of the db/db mice that represent a reliable murine model of type 2 diabetes. The raft clusters in the aorta of diabetic mice were shown to occupy a considerably larger (about 10-fold) area of endothelial cells surface as compared to the control. Observation of pathology-promoted LRs confirms that the cellular increase of lipid content results in clustering of LRs. Clustering of LRs leads to the formation of assemblies with diameters up to 3 micrometers and increased lipid character. This massive clustering of lipid rafts in diabetes may trigger a signaling cascade leading to vascular inflammation.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Chemistry, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland; Jagiellonian Centre of Experimental Therapeutics, Krakow, Poland.
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pilarczyk
authors.affiliation: Jagiellonian Centre of Experimental Therapeutics, Krakow, Poland.
authors.forename: Lukasz
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mateuszuk
authors.affiliation: Jagiellonian Centre of Experimental Therapeutics, Krakow, Poland.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rygula
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Chemistry, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland.
authors.forename: Mariusz
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kepczynski
authors.affiliation: Jagiellonian Centre of Experimental Therapeutics, Krakow, Poland; Department of Experimental Pharmacology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chlopicki
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Chemistry, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland; Jagiellonian Centre of Experimental Therapeutics, Krakow, Poland.
authors.forename: Malgorzata
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Baranska
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Chemistry, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland; Jagiellonian Centre of Experimental Therapeutics, Krakow, Poland.
authors.forename: Agnieszka
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kaczor
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001011:Aorta / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D003921:Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental / Q000378:metabolism*; D004727:Endothelium / Q000378:metabolism*; D021962:Membrane Microdomains / Q000378:metabolism*; D051379:Mice; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D013059:Spectrum Analysis, Raman