Effects of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids on Intestinal Cell Proliferation

The effect of the polyunsaterated fatty acids, linoleic acid(LA), arachidonic acid(AA) and conjugated dienoic linoleic acid(CLA) on IEC-6 cells (rat intestinal cell)proliferation and cell transduction have been determined in vitro. IEC-6 cells proliferation was assessed by cell growth and [3H]-thymidine incroporation analysis. At 10 μM concentration , the proliferationof cells supplemented with AA or LA was significantly higher than that of CLA. [3H]-thymidine uptake showed the same results. LA and AA increased [3H]-thymidine uptake more than CLA. The stimulatory effect of LA or AA was even more pronounced in the presence of IGF. Both cell number analysis and [3H]-thymidine incorporation revealed that IEC-6 cell proliferation was influenced differently by exogenous free fatty acids, in which AA or LA stimulated IEC-6 cell proliferation and CLA inhibited it. Tyorosine phosphorylation provides a key switch to regulate celluar acitivity in response to extracellular stimuli. At 20 μM and 10μM, AA with IGF-1 stimulated protein tyrosine phophorylation in IEC-6 cells, but LA's impact was less than that of AA. CLA and CLA with IGF-1 inhibited protein tyrosine phosphorylation in IEC-6 cells. These results suggest there is a possible correlation between cell proliferation and IGF receptor tyrosine knase activity driven by AA.