Effects of Cholesterol in Stress-Related Neuronal Death-A Statistical Analysis Perspective

• Published in: International journal of molecular sciences Vol. 21; no. 8; p. 2905
• Main Authors: Dayeh, Maher A, Livadiotis, George, Aminian, Farzan, Cheng, Kwan H, Roberts, James L, Viswasam, Nikita, Elaydi, Saber
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 21.04.2020; MDPI
• Subjects: Alzheimer’s disease; Antioxidants; Brain research; Cell Death; Cell Membrane - metabolism; Cell Survival; Cell viability; Cells, Cultured; cellular viability; Cholesterol; Cholesterol - metabolism; Cholesterol - pharmacology; Cyclodextrin; Cyclodextrins; Dementia; Dementia disorders; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Enzymes; Experiments; Free radicals; Hydrogen peroxide; Lipids; Membranes; Neurons; Neurons - drug effects; Neurons - metabolism; Oxidative stress; Plasma; Proteins; Statistical analysis; Statistics; Stress, Physiological; United States > US; dementia; cellular viability; Alzheimer’s disease; oxidative stress
• ISSN: 1422-0067; 1661-6596; 1422-0067
• DOI: 10.3390/ijms21082905

The association between plasma cholesterol levels and the development of dementia continues to be an important topic of discussion in the scientific community, while the results in the literature vary significantly. We study the effect of reducing oxidized neuronal cholesterol on the lipid raft structure of plasma membrane. The levels of plasma membrane cholesterol were reduced by treating the intact cells with methyl-ß-cyclodextrin (MßCD). The relationship between the cell viability with varying levels of MßCD was then examined. The viability curves are well described by a modified form of the empirical Gompertz law of mortality. A detailed statistical analysis is performed on the fitting results, showing that increasing MßCD concentration has a minor, rather than significant, effect on the cellular viability. In particular, the dependence of viability on MßCD concentration was found to be characterized by a ~25% increase per 1 μM of MßCD concentration.