This study was performed to evaluate the isomer-specific cytotoxic effects of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) on rat hepatoma dRLh-84 cells in vitro. A 10trans,12cis (10t,12c)-CLA showed a strong cytotoxic effect on dRLh-84 cells in culture, whereas no such effect was observed with 9cis,11trans (9c,11t)-CLA or linoleic acid. The optimum concentration for induction of cytotoxicity by 10t,12c-CLA was 5 to 10 microM, but the effect was alleviated at higher concentrations. Coincubation with oleic or palmitoleic acid and 10t,12c-CLA cancelled the cytotoxic effect, but other major saturated or polyunsaturated fatty acids and eraidic acid did not interfere with 10t,12c-CLA-induced cytotoxity. The cytotoxic effect was also alleviated by alpha-tocopherol (alpha-toc) and alpha-tocotrienol but not by any other antioxidant reagent examined. Significant cytotoxicity of 10t,12c-CLA was detected after only a 15-min incubation, and the most noticeable effect was seen after 3 h. After incubation with 10t,12c-CLA at 10 microM, an additional 90 microM of 10t,12c-CLA or 100 microM of alpha-toc was also able to alleviate the cytotoxicity. When cells were treated with 10 microM 10t,12c-CLA for more than 48 h, treatment with additional CLA or alpha-toc could not prevent cell death.

Previous studies have shown the physiological significance of dietary conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) in various experimental animals and in human beings. One of the important problems to better elucidate is the difference between triglyceride (TG) and free (FFA) dietary CLA. Here, using splenocytes, this study assesses how TG- and FFA-CLA modulate immunoglobulin and various cytokine productions. In this study, C57BL/6N mice were fed an experimental diet containing 0% CLA, 0.1 or 1% FFA-CLA, or 0.1 or 1% TG-CLA for 3 weeks. The production of immunoglobulin tended to be up-regulated by 1% FFA-CLA. As a result of protein array analysis using the supernatant from splenocytes cultured with no CLA, 1% FFA-CLA, and TG-CLA, some cytokine production was shown to be remarkably regulated by dietary FFA- and TG-CLA. A total of 32 cytokines were examined, and 11-14 produced cytokines that were 2-fold up-regulated as compared with control for FFA- or TG-CLA, respectively. Especially, the production of IL-9 and MCP-5 and other cytokines was remarkably up-regulated by both FFA- and TG-CLA. In addition, seven cytokines were 2-fold down-regulated by TG-CLA. These data show that there is a slight but significant difference between the functionalities of FFA- and TG-CLA.

SummaryWe examined the effect of dietary conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) on liver regeneration after a partial hepatectomy (PH) in Sprague-Dawley rats. PH Was performed on rats fed a 0 or 1wt.% CLA diet for 3wk. Average liver weight in the CLA fed rat popula tion was heavier than the control rat population at the time of PH and 1-d after PH. Con versely, CLA fed rats' liver weight was significantly lower than control rats at 7-d after PH. This suggests that dietary CLA reduced liver weight gain after PH. Dietary CLA did not affect serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST) or alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activities. How ever, CLA significantly reduced serum albumin levels at 1-d but not at 7-d after PH. 5 -Promo-and 5-iododeoxyuridine incorporation into hepatocytes 1-d post PH was lower in the CLA group. In conclusion, the data suggests that dietary CLA inhibits DNA synthesis after PH, which results in hepatocyte proliferation inhibition.

Although epidemiological studies on the relationship between dietary fat and the incidence of breast cancer do not necessarily show a firm positive correlation (1-3), dietary fat plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of breast cancer in animal models (4-6). In general, polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) in relation to saturated or monounsaturated fatty acids are more promotive in chemical carcinogenesis and the growth of transplanted cancer cells in rodents (4-6). PUFA of the n-6 family, in particular linoleic acid is probably the responsible fatty acid for tumor promotion, while n-3 PUFA works anti-carcinogenic in experimental animals. Despite numerous data on the effect of dietary fat type on animal carcinogenesis, no reports are available regarding the influence of the structure of dietary fat on this process. Currently, diacylglycerol (DAG) attracted attention with respect to its body fat reducing potential as compared with triacylglycerol (TAG) having the same fatty acid composition (7-10), though the precise mechanism underlying this effect remains to be resolved (10, 11). Since the energy density of diets is a factor influencing the incidence of several cancers in

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