Premium
Absorption and Metabolism of cis ‐9, trans ‐11‐CLA and of Its Oxidation Product 9,11‐Furan Fatty Acid by Caco‐2 Cells
Author(s) -
Buhrke Thorsten,
Merkel Roswitha,
Lengler Imme,
Lampen Alfonso
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
lipids
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.601
H-Index - 120
eISSN - 1558-9307
pISSN - 0024-4201
DOI - 10.1007/s11745-012-3653-6
Subject(s) - furan , chemistry , conjugated linoleic acid , fatty acid , linoleic acid , biochemistry , metabolism , stereochemistry , organic chemistry
Furan fatty acids (furan‐FA) can be formed by auto‐oxidation of conjugated linoleic acids (CLA) and may therefore be ingested when CLA‐containing foodstuff is consumed. Due to the presence of a furan ring structure, furan‐FA may have toxic properties, however, these substances are toxicologically not well characterized so far. Here we show that 9,11‐furan‐FA, the oxidation product of the major CLA isomer cis ‐9, trans ‐11‐CLA (c9,t11‐CLA), is not toxic to human intestinal Caco‐2 cells up to a level of 100 μM. Oil‐Red‐O staining indicated that 9,11‐furan‐FA as well as c9,t11‐CLA and linoleic acid are taken up by the cells and stored in the form of triglycerides in lipid droplets. Chemical analysis of total cellular lipids revealed that 9,11‐furan‐FA is partially elongated probably by the enzymatic activity of cellular fatty acid elongases whereas c9,t11‐CLA is partially converted to other isomers such as c9,c11‐CLA or t9,t11‐CLA. In the case of 9,11‐furan‐FA, there is no indication for any modification or activation of the furan ring system. From these results, we conclude that 9,11‐furan‐FA has no properties of toxicological relevance at least for Caco‐2 cells which serve as a model for enterocytes of the human small intestine.