Identifying Proteins in Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Undergraduate #9
Discipline: Biological Sciences
Subcategory: Biochemistry (not Cell and Molecular Biology and Genetics)

Sunny Vuong - St. Olaf Coollege

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Liver failure due to alcoholism is a problem that is not well understood in the United States. Before liver failure develops, the liver accumulates fat in the lipid droplet. This is known as Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (AFLD). This research focused on learning more about AFLD because it indicates potential liver failure, yet is reversible if recognized before the disease progresses further.
Our experiments aimed to identify proteins present on lipid droplets in a cell culture model of AFLD. We hypothesized that proteins that are more prevalent on lipid droplets in AFLD may play a significant role in the progression of the disease and could help in the diagnosis of AFLD. Previous work in our laboratory has shown that culturing the AML12 mouse liver cell line in choline-deficient media mimics the changes to lipid droplets that are associated with AFLD. We used a protein assay to determine the concentration of total lipid droplet proteins in control and choline-deficient AML12 cells. We used SDS-PAGE and western blotting to visualize the concentration of candidate lipid droplet proteins.
The results of our study show that three proteins: perilipin 1, perilipin 2, and CIDEC are more prevalent under cell culture conditions that model AFLD.

Future work will assess the role that these proteins play in the development of AFLD and will lead to a more accurate diagnosis for this disease.

Not Submitted

Funder Acknowledgement(s): TRIO McNair Scholars Program Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation

Faculty Advisor: Laura Listenberger, listenbe@stolaf.edu

Role: I completed all of the SDS-PAGE and western blots included on the poster and analyzed the data. I cultured cells and isolated lipid droplets that were used to analyze protein samples.