Toxicity of fatty acids on ECV-304 endothelial cells

The effects of stearic (saturated) or oleic (monounsaturated) acids and their combination with ω-3 and ω-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) on death of endothelial cells (ECV-304 cell line) were investigated. We examined: loss of plasma membrane integrity, DNA fragmentation, accumulation of neutral lipids (NL) and release of reactive oxygen species (ROS). The fatty acids studied were: stearic (SA), oleic (OA), docosahexaenoic (DHA), eicosapentaenoic (EPA), linoleic (LA) and gamma-linolenic (γA) acids. SA at 150 μM induced cell death, did not lead to accumulation of NL and raised the release of ROS. ω-3 PUFA decreased ROS production, increased NL content but did not protect against ECV-304 cell death induced by SA. ω-6 PUFA inhibited SA-induced cell death, increased NL content and decreased ROS production. OA caused cell death but did not increase NL content and ROS production even at 300 μM. ω-3 and ω-6 FA associated with OA further increased cell death with no change in ROS production and NL content. Concluding, ω-6 PUFA had a greater protective effect than ω-3 PUFA on the deleterious effects caused by SA whereas OA had low cytotoxicity but, when associated with PUFA, presented marked toxic effects on ECV-304 endothelial cells.