The Intracellular Cholesterol Pool in Steroidogenic Cells Plays a Role in Autophagy, Basal Steroidogenesis and Mitochondrial Dynamics

In steroidogenesis, cholesterol‐ the precursor substrate molecule for all steroid hormones is central and the framework of steroidogenesis across steroidogenic cells is constructed around it— including its cellular uptake, storage in intracellular lipid droplets, mobilization upon steroidogenic stimulation, and finally, its transport to the mitochondria where cholesterol is converted to pregnenolone by the P450 side chain cleavage enzyme. Thus, cholesterol and the mitochondria are highly interconnected in all steroidogenic cells. Moreover, accruing evidence suggests that autophagy and mitochondrial dynamics are important cellular events in the regulation of trophic hormone‐induced cholesterol homeostasis and steroidogenesis. However, a potential role of cholesterol in the regulation of steroidogenic events and factors remain unexplored. We tested the hypothesis that cholesterol plays a role in the regulation of cell‐intrinsic factors and events involving steroidogenesis. We used an intermediary approach to investigate the role of cholesterol in the regulation of steroidogenesis in different steroidogenic cell types such as MA‐10 cells (a murine Leydig cell line), BeWo cells (placental cell line) producing different steroid hormones. Steroidogenic cells were cultured in a lipoprotein‐depleted medium that leads to the depletion of the intracellular cholesterol pool and lipid droplets. Furthermore, cholesterol deprivation induced steroidogenic events. To get a snapshot of cholesterol deprived (CD)‐induced changes in lipid droplets, autophagy, and mitochondrial dynamics at an ultrastructural level we analyzed steroidogenic cells using transmission electron microscopy. As expected, cholesterol deprivation resulted in the depletion or loss of intracellular lipid droplets and the cholesterol pool across steroidogenic cell lines. Moreover, a difference in autophagy‐related structural changes was observed between cells cultured under the normal and CD conditions. In general, the structural characteristics of autophagy were more apparent in the CD group when compared with the normal control group across different steroidogenic cell types. Moreover, a change in mitochondrial shape was observed between the cells from two groups. For instance, the elongated or tubular mitochondria showing signs of mitochondrial dynamics (fusion or fission) were more common in the CD experimental group. Importantly, an increase in lysosome size and numbers were consistently found in cells under CD conditions which inversely correlated with the depletion of lipid droplets and the cholesterol pool, suggesting a compensatory increase in cholesterol mobilization. Taken together, this data suggests that cholesterol indeed plays a role in the regulation of autophagy and mitochondrial dynamics across steroidogenic cells in a context‐dependent manner. Such effects of cholesterol deprivation on autophagy and mitochondrial dynamics were not observed in the non‐steroidogenic cells such as HepG2 (human hepatoma cells) and H4IIE (rat hepatoma cells), indicating that cholesterol insufficiency‐induced changes in steroidogenic cells are specific to steroidogenesis. Thus, we unraveled this previously unknown role of cholesterol in steroidogenesis beyond being a mere substrate for steroid hormones. The implications of our findings are broad and offer new insights into trophic hormone‐dependent and independent steroidogenesis during development, as well as in health and disease.

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