Nanoelectronics A Metalobonomic Study of Fatty Acids Influence in Hepatic Cell Growth
In the recent years a big interest has been shown in the food science, with a particular interest in fatty acids. There is a very heated debate about the role of fatty acids in human nutrition, but the data is mostly empirical and subjective and no clear explanation of metabolic processes involved is given. To cast light on these issues we have studied the influence of different fatty acids on the metabolism of hepatic cells by analyzing their excreted metabolites. Liver cells grown in HepG2 growth medium enriched with small quantities of elaidic, oleic and stearic acid have been investigated by 1D NMR spectra of the medium. The data is analyzed with MVDA (Multivariate Data Analysis) using the Simpca P+ program. The method used was PCA (principal component analysis) which is a great help to see which sets of data are related and which are different. This method is capable to differentiate between different growth media and indicate the regions which contribute to the differences between the samples. Based on those spectral regions we can identify the relevant signals from excreted metabolites and differentiate between cells grown in different growth media. Lactic acid is the metabolite that changes the most between the four classes of growth medium. A difference in glucose levels is also observed. The difference between glucose levels and the changes in lactic acid show the influence of the fatty acids in metabolic processes. The 1D and 2D spectra show a very complex metabolite mixture, which make the identification of other significant metabolites difficult. More experiments are required in order to identify other relevant metabolites and the chemistry involved in the breaking down of fatty acids.
