Abstract
BackgroundExperimental studies indicate that gamma linolenic acid (GLA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) may inhibit glioma cells growth but effects of oral consumption of these fatty acids on brain tumor fatty acid composition have not been determined in vivo.MethodsGLA oil (GLAO; 72% GLA), DHA oil (DHAO; 73% DHA) were fed to adult wistar rats (1 mL/rat/day) starting one week prior to C6 glioma cells implantation and continued for two weeks after implantation. Control group were fed same amount of high linoleic acid safflower oil (74–77% linoleic acid). Fatty acid composition of tumor samples was determined in a set of 8–12 animals in each group and serum fatty acid in 6 animals per each group. Gene expression of tumor fatty acid binding protein 7 (FABP7), epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), peroxisome proliferator activated receptor γ (PPAR-γ) and retinoid × receptor-α (RXR-α) were determined in a set of 18 animals per group.ResultsDHAO feeding increased EPA of brain tumors and decreased ratio of n-6/n-3 fatty acids. Serum levels of EPA were also increased in DHAO group. A similar trend in serum and tumor levels of DHA were observed in DHAO group but it did not achieve statistical significance. GLAO increased serum concentration of GLA but had no significant effect on tumor GLA or dihomo-gamma linolenic acid (DGLA) concentrations. Gene expression of FABP7 was up-regulated in tumors of DHAO group but no other significant effects were observed on EGFR, PPAR-γ or RXR-α expression, and expression of these genes in tumors of GLAO were not different from SFO group.ConclusionDietary supplementation of DHA containing oil could be an effective way to increase levels of long chain n-3 fatty acids in brain tumors and this increase may be mediated partly by up-regulation of FABP7 expression.
Highlights
Experimental studies indicate that gamma linolenic acid (GLA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) may inhibit glioma cells growth but effects of oral consumption of these fatty acids on brain tumor fatty acid composition have not been determined in vivo
Concentration of GLA significantly increased in GLA oil (GLAO) group relative to SFO (5.1 fold; p < 0.05) or DHA oil (DHAO) (13.3 fold; p < 0.01) groups
In DHAO group, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) levels were much greater than SFO (21.8; p < 0.01) or GLAO (27.1 fold; p < 0.01) groups
Summary
Experimental studies indicate that gamma linolenic acid (GLA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) may inhibit glioma cells growth but effects of oral consumption of these fatty acids on brain tumor fatty acid composition have not been determined in vivo. Previous in vivo and clinical studies have reported that GLA infusion into the rat or human glioma could be effective in decreasing tumor growth [2,3,5,6]. Effective, this method can not be applied for majority of patients. A few studies with limited samples have compared fatty acid composition of human brain tumors with that of normal brain tissue and have found that concentration of n-3 fatty acids, especially DHA, are lower in gliomas than non-tumoral brain tissues [14,15]
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