The impact of PUFA on cell responses: caution should be exercised when selecting PUFA concentrations in cell culture

Abstract Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) are important components of cellular membranes, serving both structural and signaling functions. Investigation of the functional responses of cells to various PUFA often involve cell culture experiments, which can then inform or guide subsequent in vivo and clinical investigations. In this study, human carcinoma and leukemia cell lines (MCF-7, HepG2, THP-1, Jurkat) were incubated for 3 days in the presence of up to 150 μM of exogenous arachidonic or eicosapentaenoic acids. At concentrations up to 20 μM these PUFA were enriched in cellular phospholipids, but at concentrations of 20 μM or higher cells accumulated large quantities of these PUFA and their elongation products into triglycerides. This coincided with decreased cell proliferation and enhanced apoptosis. Inhibition of DGAT1 but not DGAT2 enhanced the cytotoxic effect of exogenous PUFA suggesting a protective role of PUFA sequestration into TGs. Lower (10 μM) and higher (50 μM) exogenous PUFA concentrations also had different impacts on the expression of PUFA metabolizing enzymes. Overall, these results indicate that caution must be exercised when planning in vitro experiments since elevated concentrations of PUFA can lead to dysfunctional cellular responses that are not predictive of in vivo responses to dietary PUFA.