Cholesterol efflux stimulates metalloproteinase-mediated cleavage of occludin and release of extracellular membrane particles containing its C-terminal fragments.

That changes in membrane lipid composition alter the barrier function of tight junctions illustrates the importance of the interactions between tetraspan integral tight junction proteins and lipids of the plasma membrane. Application of methyl-β-cyclodextrin to both apical and basolateral surfaces of MDCK cell monolayers for 2 h, results in an ∼80% decrease in cell cholesterol, a fall in transepithelial electrical resistance, and a 30% reduction in cell content of occludin, with a smaller reduction in levels of claudins-2, -3, and -7. There were negligible changes in levels of actin and the two non-tight junction membrane proteins GP-135 and caveolin-1. While in untreated control cells breakdown of occludin, and probably other tight junction proteins, is mediated by intracellular proteolysis, our current data suggest an alternative pathway whereby in a cholesterol-depleted membrane, levels of tight junction proteins are decreased via direct release into the intercellular space as components of membrane-bound particles. Occludin, along with two of its degradation products and several claudins, increases in the basolateral medium after incubation with methyl-β-cyclodextrin for 30 min. In contrast caveolin-1 is detected only in the apical medium after adding methyl-β-cyclodextrin. Release of occludin and its proteolytic fragments continues even after removal of methyl-β-cyclodextrin. Sedimentation and ultrastructural studies indicate that the extracellular tight junction proteins are associated with the membrane-bound particles that accumulate between adjacent cells. Disruption of the actin filament network by cytochalasin D did not diminish methyl-β-cyclodextrin-induced release of tight junction proteins into the medium, suggesting that the mechanism underlying their formation is not actin-dependent. The 41- and  48-kDa C-terminal occludin fragments formed during cholesterol depletion result from the action of a GM6001-sensitive metalloproteinase(s) at some point in the path leading to release of the membrane particles.