Collaborators from University of California Los Angeles and the University of Western Australia have developed a technique for seeing where cholesterol is present on cells and tissues. Using this approach, scientists will be able to better understand the role of cholesterol and how the body manages it, hopefully leading to new therapies for preventing and treating cardiovascular diseases.
The technique, known as nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry, or NanoSIMS, allows research to see so called “accessible cholesterol,” or cholesterol in the plasma membrane. This cholesterol makes contact and reacts with cholesterol-binding proteins, whereas there’s another “inaccessible cholesterol” that remains trapped within the plasma membrane and doesn’t bind to said proteins.
The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, describes how the scientists tagged the cholesterol-binding proteins with non-radioactive isotopes. These isotopes, thanks to extra neutrons in the nucleus, have a different weight than the majority of natural elements of that kind. Using high-resolution mass spectrometry, the researchers are able to spot the different weights of the tissue, pointing to where the tagged proteins are located.
Study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: High-resolution imaging and quantification of plasma membrane cholesterol by NanoSIMS…
Via: UCLA…