title: Saturated free fatty acid, palmitic acid, induces apoptosis in fetal hepatocytes in culture.
abstract: To investigate the effects of saturated free fatty acid, palmitic acid (PA), on hepatocytes, we administered PA to rat hepatocytes. We demonstrated that PA inhibited the cell growth as a dose- and time-dependent manner in rat hepatocytes. PA-induced morphological changes including swelling, membrane dissolution and formation of debris, and apoptosis with appearance of sub-G1 fraction determined by cell cycle analysis after treatment for 4 days. The level of Bcl-2 was slightly decreased, in contrast, the level of Bax elevated markedly, which resulted in a significant decrease of Bcl-2/Bax ratio after PA treatment on HepG2 cells. These findings demonstrated that PA induces cell death on hepatocytes, perhaps via mitochondria-mediated apoptosis. Furthermore, the present study indicates that PA's cell toxicity may play important roles in the transition from steatosis to steatohepatitis in human especially with obesity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Central Laboratory, Dalian Municipal Central Hospital, Xuegong Street 42, Shahekou-qu, Dalian 116033, China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yi-Ming
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Mu
authors.forename: Xiao-Yu
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Yuan-Yuan
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Huan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Shu-Min
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Xi-Zuo
authors.initials: XZ
authors.lastname: Sun
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017304:Annexin A5 / Q000378:metabolism; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects*; D049108:Cell Enlargement / Q000187:drug effects; D002469:Cell Separation; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005333:Fetus / Q000166:cytology*; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D022781:Hepatocytes / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D019308:Palmitic Acid / Q000633:toxicity*; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein
chemical_list: D017304:Annexin A5; C494828:Bax protein, rat; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein; D019308:Palmitic Acid