Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) alters the deformability of murine melanoma cells

Abstract

We examined the effects of DHA on the deformability of two variants of a murine melanoma cell line. Cells of the B16‐F1 variant are less metastatic than those of the aggressively metastatic B16‐F10 variant. We measured the deformability of cells by assessing their ability to survive forced passage through 8 ?m apertures in polycarbonate. A higher percentage of cells of the F10 variant survived passage (67% ± 5 SEM versus 59% ± 2 SEM, n =7). Dose response curves using oleic acid (OA) and DHA (both in ethanol) revealed that, unlike OA, DHA at concentrations of 0.30 mM induced cell death in both strains. The viability of cells of both strains exposed to 0.075 mM OA or DHA for 8 h remained above 90%. After a 6 h exposure to 0.075 mM DHA the phospholipids of B16‐F1 cells contained DHA as 20% of total fatty acids compared to 6% in control cells. Cells of both melanoma variants treated with DHA in this way showed significantly reduced ability to survive passage through 8 µm apertures. The reduction was statistically equal for both strains. Cells treated with OA or ethanol showed no such change. We conclude that the incorporation of DHA into phospholipids alters the deformability of the cells and that this effect is the same in cells with high or low metastatic capacities. This work was supported by Undergraduate Research Grants from the Henson School of Science and Technology at Salisbury University and by a Guerrieri Summer Research Award.