Cholestenoic acids are formed as intermediates in metabolism of cholesterol to bile acids, and the biosynthetic enzymes that generate cholestenoic acids are expressed in the mammalian CNS. Here, we evaluated the cholestenoic acid profile of mammalian cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and determined that specific cholestenoic acids activate the liver X receptors (LXRs), enhance islet-1 expression in zebrafish, and increase the number of oculomotor neurons in the developing mouse in vitro and in vivo. While 3β,7α-dihydroxycholest-5-en-26-oic acid (3β,7α-diHCA) promoted motor neuron survival in an LXR-dependent manner, 3β-hydroxy-7-oxocholest-5-en-26-oic acid (3βH,7O-CA) promoted maturation of precursors into islet-1+ cells. Unlike 3β,7α-diHCA and 3βH,7O-CA, 3β-hydroxycholest-5-en-26-oic acid (3β-HCA) caused motor neuron cell loss in mice. Mutations in
Spyridon Theofilopoulos, William J. Griffiths, Peter J. Crick, Shanzheng Yang, Anna Meljon, Michael Ogundare, Satish Srinivas Kitambi, Andrew Lockhart, Karin Tuschl, Peter T. Clayton, Andrew A. Morris, Adelaida Martinez, M. Ashwin Reddy, Andrea Martinuzzi, Maria T. Bassi, Akira Honda, Tatsuki Mizuochi, Akihiko Kimura, Hiroshi Nittono, Giuseppe De Michele, Rosa Carbone, Chiara Criscuolo, Joyce L. Yau, Jonathan R. Seckl, Rebecca Schüle, Ludger Schöls, Andreas W. Sailer, Jens Kuhle, Matthew J. Fraidakis, Jan-Åke Gustafsson, Knut R. Steffensen, Ingemar Björkhem, Patrik Ernfors, Jan Sjövall, Ernest Arenas, Yuqin Wang