POLY-UNSATURATED FATTY-ACIDS, VITAMIN-E, AND THE PROLIFERATION OF AORTIC SMOOTH-MUSCLE CELLS

Smooth muscle cell cultures were obtained from the aortas of prepubertal guinea pigs. Cell proliferation in these cultures was inhibited by 8,11,14-eicosatrienoic acid, 5,8,11,14-eicosatetraenoic acid, and their prostaglandin E derivatives, PGE1 and PGE2. Prostaglandin F derivatives, PGF1α and PGF2α, stimulated cell proliferation. Cell proliferation was also inhibited by 5,8,11-eicosatrienoic acid and 11,14,17-eicosatrienoic acid. The monoene and diene precursors of the triene acids, 9-octadecenoic acid and 9,12-octadecadienoic acid, did not inhibit cell, proliferation. Indomethacin alone had no effect on cell proliferation, and indomethacin did not suppress the inhibition of cell proliferation with a triene acid. The antioxidant α-naphthol alone stimulated cell proliferation and suppressed prostaglandin E formation. α-Naphthol in the presence of either triene or tetraene acids also stimulated cell proliferation and suppressed prostaglandin E formation. The antioxidants butylated hydroxy toluene and 6-hydroxy-2,5,7,8-tetramethylchroman-2-carboxylic acid either alone or in the presence of triene and tetraene acids stimulated cell proliferation and had no effect on prostaglandin E formation. Vitamin E either alone or in the presence of triene or tetraene acids stimulated cell proliferation and had no effect on prostaglandin E formation. More prostaglandin E was formed from 8,11,14-eicosatrienoic acid than from 5,8,11,14-eicosatetraenoic acid in the presence of antioxidants. Vitamin E suppressed the inhibitory effects of both PGE2 and palmitic acid on cell proliferation. The cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase inhibitors, caffeine and papaverine, suppressed the stimulatory effect of vitamin E on cell proliferation and enhanced the inhibitory effect of a triene acid on cell proliferation. Substrate and inhibitor specificities are consistent with the oxidative regulation of cell proliferation through the formation of hydroperoxy fatty acids. We propose that hydroperoxy fatty acids may regulate both cyclase and cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase enzymes through sulfhydryl-disulfide interconversions. We suggest that this regulatory mechanism may help to explain the acculation of 5,8,11-eicosatrienoic acid in essential fatty acid deficiency, the effects of antioxidants on cell proliferation, and one of the several effects of polyunsaturated fatty acids in proliferative disorders such as cancer and atherosclerosis. © 1979 American Oil Chemists' Society.