Incorporation of α-linolenic acid and linoleic acid into human respiratory epithelial cell lines

Dani Louise Bryan, Prue Hart, Kevin Forsyth, Robert Gibson

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

14 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Animal and human studies designed to examine the effects of α-linolenic acid (ALA) and linoleic acid (LA) supplementation on the fatty acid composition of plasma and tissues have demonstrated a marked difference in incorporation into phospholipids of these 18-carbon precursors of the longchain polyunsaturates. Whereas tissue phospholipid levels are linearly related to dietary ALA and LA, the levels of tissue LA can be 10-fold higher than tissue ALA even when dietary levels are equivalent. There is some dispute whether this disparity is due to ALA being more rapidly metabolized to its products or substantially oxidized by the liver, or whether LA but not ALA is readily incorporated into cellular phospholipids. We examined the level of incorporation of polyunsaturated fatty acids into human respiratory epithelial cell lines (A549, 16HBE) by determining the dose-dependent incorporation of ALA and LA as free fatty acid (5-150 μg FFA/mL). Cell membrane phospholipid ALA and LA were both increased up to ∼20-30% total fatty acids, with a concomitant decrease predominantly in monounsaturated membrane fatty acids, before significant toxicity was observed (50 μg/mL). Our data support the concept that rather than any inherent inability by human cells to incorporate ALA into membrane phospholipids, the lack of ALA content in human and animal tissues in vivo is due to the rapid metabolism or oxidation of this fatty acid in the liver.

Original languageEnglish
Article number776
Pages (from-to)713-717
Number of pages5
JournalLipids
Volume36
Issue number7
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2001
Externally publishedYes

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