Abstract
Heme is an essential substance for oxygen metabolism. 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) is a precursor of heme and accelerates plants, hair and sperm growth. However, ALA is reported to be an oxidative stressor. We previously reported that reactive oxygen species (ROS) enhanced cancer cellular bioactivity such as metastasis and invasion. On the other hand, over-generation of ROS induces apoptotic cell death in normal cells. Thus, ROS caused by ALA may promote cancerous malignancy and give damage to normal cells. In this study, we investigated the different effect of ALA between normal cells and cancer cells using a rat normal gastric epithelial cell line, RGM and its chemically mutated cell line, RGK. 50 μM ALA for 48h induced normal cellular apoptosis, not in cancer cells. In addition, the normal cell death was suppressed by treatment with N-acetylcysteine. Therefore, we concluded that ALA induced ROS and subsequent normal cell specific death via oxidative stress. From this result, administration of ALA for cancer patients may bring getting worse.
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