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From the Lipid Research Unit, Department of Medicine, Fundación Jiménez Díaz, Universidad Autónoma Madrid (P.M., R.A., C.L., M.d.O.), and the Cardiovascular Research Center, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones CientíficasHospital de la Sta. Cruz y San Pablo, Universidad Autónoma Barcelona (O.V., L.B.), Spain.
Correspondence to Prof Lina Badimon, Cardiovascular Unit, CSIC, Jordi Girona, 18-26 # Lab. 623, 08034 Barcelona, Spain. E-mail: lbmucv{at}cid.csic.es.
| Abstract |
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Key Words: monounsaturated fatty acids polyunsaturated fatty acids lipoproteins lipid oxidation smooth muscle cells atherosclerosis
| Introduction |
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The progression of coronary artery disease (CAD) is strongly influenced by intake of saturated fatty acids (SFA), an effect additionally mediated by mechanisms other than its influence on total and LDL cholesterol.4 Epidemiologic studies had suggested that intake of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) n-3 was associated with a low incidence of coronary events.5 A number of studies sought to determine whether dietary therapy with PUFA n-3 had beneficial effects on the inhibition of restenosis; however, the results have been contradictory, showing effects from beneficial to detrimental.6 7 8 9 10
Data from the Seven Countries Study11 suggested that the Mediterranean diet, which is rich in monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), primarily as olive oil, was associated with a low rate of CAD. Recently, a diet similar to the Mediterranean diet was successful in the secondary prevention of coronary events and death.12 However, there are few studies on the cellular and molecular mechanisms that operate to produce that clear preventive effect on cardiovascular disease. Several studies have documented the effects of PUFA n-3 on SMC, but to our knowledge there are no studies in humans comparing the effects of diets enriched in SFA, MUFA, PUFA n-6 and PUFA n-3 on SMC. The present study has been addressed to evaluate the effect of serum obtained from healthy subjects (men and women) on a dietary longitudinal study changing the four major classes of fatty acids on human coronary SMC de novo DNA synthesis by S-phase incorporation of 3H-thymidine.
| Methods |
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The characteristics of the study population have been described.13 Briefly, volunteers from two religious communities were enrolled in the study. Their regular lifestyle contributed to our avoiding behavioral changes as possible variables during the study. None of them was on any drug treatment including vitamin supplements.
A cohort of 24 individuals (12 females and 12 males) were randomly selected for studying the effects of serum collected in the four dietary periods on human coronary SMC proliferation. Mean age was 42±2 years in men and 46±1 years in women.
All menus were prepared using conventional food items. Special emphasis
was placed on using foodstuffs that were not substantially different
from those habitually consumed by the communities, with seven daily
menus rotating weekly. We used direct chemical analysis to
evaluate the composition of the diets (see below), which was 15%
protein, 50% carbohydrate, and 35% fat (percentage of total energy)
and was maintained constant in all periods (Table 1
). This distribution reflects the
regular diet of the participants, as well as the diet consumed in most
Mediterranean countries. Dietary fiber (21-23 g) and
cholesterol (<300 mg/d) were also maintained at
constant levels between diet phases. Palm oil and butter constituted
the major fats in the SFA period, representing about 55%
of the total fat intake. Olive oil, rich in oleic acid in its natural
cis-configuration, accounted for 55% of the fat intake during the MUFA
period, whereas sunflower oil represented 50% of the PUFA
n-6 and 37.5% of the PUFA n-3 diet periods. All diets, except for the
PUFA n-3 period, included the following foods weekly: veal twice,
chicken twice, ham or cheese twice, legumes twice, rice twice, pasta
once, vegetables seven times, white fish four times a week, and three
eggs. During the PUFA n-3 period, blue fish (mackerel, salmon, and
sardines) were substituted for veal, chicken, and white fish, with one
fish meal provided per day every day of the week. This regimen provided
about 3.2 and 4.5 g/d of n-3 fatty acids in women and men,
respectively. In addition, the subjects consumed daily a fixed amount
of bread, cookies, fruit, green salad, jam, and milk.
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Body weight was measured twice a week, and the individual carbohydrate intake was adjusted, if needed, to prevent weight changes of more than 2%. All meals were consumed in the dinning halls. Individualized and weighed portions were provided to each participant.
Duplicate samples of all meals from randomly selected individuals (one
man and one woman) were collected every day during one week of each
diet phase and stored at -20°C (Table 1
). Fatty acid composition of
the dietary oils used in this study was determined by capillary
gas-liquid chromatography at the Food Analysis
Laboratory of the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture. Palm oil consisted
mainly of (% by weight) 37% palmitic acid, 43.6% oleic acid, and
11.7% linoleic acid. The major fatty acids in olive oil were 9.2%
palmitic acid, 80% oleic acid, and 4.7% linoleic acid. The sunflower
oil contained 6.8% palmitic acid, 29% oleic acid, and 56% linoleic
acid.
Blood Sampling and Analysis
Fasting (12-hour) blood samples were obtained at baseline and
twice during the last week of each dietary period. Blood was collected
and serum separated by low speed centrifugation (3000
rpm). When plasma was needed, blood was collected in EDTA-containing
(4.0 mmol/L) vacutainers, which were immediately protected
from exposure to light and chilled in ice. Plasma was separated by
low-speed centrifugation and gentamicin and
chloramphenicol (0.22 and 0.15 mmol/L, respectively) were
added to the samples. Samples were kept at -70°C until used.
Lipoprotein separation and analysis were carried out as recommended by the Lipid Research Clinics manual of laboratory operations. Total cholesterol and triglyceride levels were measured by enzymatic methods (Boehringer Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany) on a Tecnikon RA-XT autoanalyzer. HDL was measured after precipitation of apo B-containing lipoproteins with phosphotungstic MgCl2 (Boehringer Mannheim).
Blood was collected in acid-citrate-dextrose after subjects fasted overnight and platelet rich plasma (PRP) was prepared by centrifugation (15 minutes, 200 g). Within 2 hours of PRP preparation, platelets (adjusted to 250x106/mL) were challenged with collagen (2 µg/mL), epinephrine (10 µmol/L), and ADP (2 µmol/L), and optical platelet aggregation was measured following standard techniques.14
LDL Isolation and Analysis of Oxidation-Related
Variables
LDL was isolated by sequential
ultracentrifugation immediately after separation of
plasma. The LDL fraction was dialyzed for 24 hours at 4°C against
phosphate-buffered saline (PBS, 10 mmol/L phosphate, 0.16
mol/L saline, pH 7.4) in the dark. The PBS was maintained in an
oxygen-free state by purging with pure nitrogen. LDL protein content
was determined by the method of Bradford.15
The content of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) was assessed in freshly isolated LDL.16 The results are expressed as malondialdehyde (MDA) equivalents (nanomoles per MDA per milligram of LDL protein). LDL oxidation was initiated by incubation with 5 µmol/L of CuSO4 (100 µg of LDL protein/mL PBS). Kinetics of LDL oxidation were examined by monitoring changes in diene absorbance (at 234 nm, 37°C, for 4 hours at 2 minute intervals) (Beckman DU-8 B ultraviolet). Lag time, rate of oxidation, and total amount of conjugated dienes (normalized by milligrams of LDL protein) were evaluated.17
Plasma and LDL
-tocopherol were measured by
high-performance liquid chromatography as
previously described,18 using a reverse phase column
(Resolve C18, 5 µm, Waters). Retinol acetate was used as
internal standard, and
-tocopherol (Sigma) as external
standard. Results are given as micromoles per liter of
-tocopherol
for plasma values and in molecules per particle for LDL values.
Plasma Fatty Acid Composition
Fatty acids from cholesteryl esters and phospholipids were
transmethylated and analyzed in a Perkin Elmer Autosystem
chromatograph equipped with a capillary column (Supelco
SP-2380; 60 m by 0.25 mm). Values were expressed as
percentage of total fatty acid.19
Smooth Muscle Cell Culture
Primary coronary human SMCs were prepared by a
modification of the explant technique.20 Segments of
normal coronary arteries were obtained from excised hearts at
transplantation (Heart Transplant Unit, Hospital San Pablo, Barcelona).
Explants were incubated in M199 supplemented with 10% FCS, 1%
L-glutamine, and antibiotics (Gibco BRL Life Technologies)
in a humidified atmosphere of 5% CO2 and 95% air at
37°C. Cells used in the experiments were from the second or third
passages. SMC were identified morphologically by light microscopy and
by their growth patterns. They were characterized by alpha-actin (+)
and vWF (-) immunofluorescence.
3H-Thymidine Incorporation in Newly Synthesized
DNA
Approximately 5x10 E4 cells per milliliter were plated in 24
well plates and grown to subconfluency (48 hours approximately). They
were synchronized by incubation in serum-free medium with insulin,
transferrin, and ascorbic acid for 48 hours. Serum (15% of final well
volume) from the study subjects was incubated with the quiescent
synchronized h-SMCc. Serum of each single subject from the four dietary
periods was assayed in parallel without any other addition. In all
experiments individual separated wells were incubated with a control
pool of human serum (from nonparticipant healthy individuals) (HCS) and
FCS, both in similar concentrations and used as external standards of
h-SMCc activity. Labeled thymidine incorporation to newly formed DNA
was measured as an index of cell entry into the proliferation cycle.
After 24 hours of incubation with serum, cells were pulsed with
[6-3H]-TdR (specific activity: 27 Ci/mmol; Amersham
International plc, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom) 0.5 µCi/mL. In a
preliminary study with human coronary SMC, we compared the
effect of adding 3H-TdR during the first 24 hours or from
24 to 48 hours after cell induction with human serum. The later time
period had the peak of 3H-Td incorporation (2.5 times
higher than the earlier period) and was selected for the study.
Twenty-four hours later (48 hours after induction) cultures were washed
with PBS, fixed with 95% methanol, treated with 10% TCA at 4°C, and
dissolved in 0.3 N NaOH. Aliquots were counted in a ß-counter (1217
RackBeta, Wallac, Pharmacia LKB). Results are expressed as
cell-incorporated 3H-TdR dpm and normalized by counts
incorporated into arrested Go cells. Protein content was measured in an
aliquot of the cell extract by the method of
Bradford.15
Similarly, cells were counted after 48 hours of induction by hemocytometry and in a cell counter (Coulter Multisizer II). Additionally, cell mitochondrial activity to test cellular survival was measured at the same time-period by the MTT method (reduction of 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide to blue formazan crystal in the cytoplasm of viable cells) as described.21
Statistics
Results are expressed as mean±SEM unless otherwise stated.
Statistical analysis for two-group tests was performed by
Student's t test for paired or unpaired observations when
groups had equal variances (F test) and by Mann-Whitney
U test for groups with unequal variances (F
test). Multiple group means were compared by one or multiple factor
ANOVA with factorial or repeated measures analysis as required
and differences between groups analyzed by Fisher PLSD
Scheffé F test for parametric data and
Kruskal-Wallis test for nonparametric data. Simple
regression analysis was performed between a dependent Y
variable and an independent X variable (cell proliferation) in
a one-X/one-Y statistic with ANOVA.
| Results |
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Compliance to the diets was assessed by analysis of fatty acids
in plasma phospholipids and cholesteryl esters (Table 2
). Consumption of the SFA diet resulted
in slight but statistically significant increases in C16:0 as
compared with the three other dietary periods. C18:1 was
significantly increased during the MUFA diet compared with the other
diet periods. C18:2 was significantly elevated during both PUFA diets
compared with the SFA and MUFA diets; additionally, the PUFA n-3 phase
was significantly enriched in the long-chain PUFA (C20:5 and C22:6)
compared with the three other diet phases.
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Plasma Lipid Levels
Plasma cholesterol concentrations were significantly
elevated during the SFA period (227±5 mg/dL, P<.02)
relative to the MUFA (205±5), PUFA n-6 (193±4), and PUFA n-3 (186±4)
periods (Table 3
). When data were
analyzed by gender, men displayed significantly higher
cholesterol levels during the SFA period (217±6
mg/dL, P<.05 versus the three other diets), whereas
similar cholesterol levels were observed during the MUFA
(197±6 mg/dL), PUFA n-6 (191±6 mg/dL), and PUFA n-3
(183±6 mg/dL) periods. In women, as described for the entire
group, the highest cholesterol level was associated with
the consumption of the SFA diet (240±7 mg/dL). A significant
decrease was observed during the MUFA (216±6 mg/dL), PUFA n-6
(196±6 mg/dL), and PUFA n-3 (190±7 mg/dL) diets, respectively,
P<.05. The difference between the latter two diets was not
statistically significant, but they were significantly reduced from the
MUFA diet. Diet effects on LDL cholesterol levels
paralleled those described for total cholesterol. HDL
cholesterol levels were lower in men than in women. For all
subjects, no difference in HDL cholesterol was observed
between the SFA (53±2 mg/dL) and the others. In women during
the PUFA n-6 and PUFA n-3 periods, however, HDL cholesterol
levels (56±2 mg/dL, P<.05) were lower than during
the SFA and MUFA periods. When men were analyzed separately,
dietary fat saturation did not have any significant effect on HDL
cholesterol levels. There were no changes in diet-induced
plasma triglycerides.
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LDL Oxidation
Vitamin E content of the LDL particle (molecules of
alpha-tocopherol per LDL particle) was measured at the end
of each diet period. No differences were noted between the SFA
(9.8±0.5) and the MUFA (11.0±0.3) periods; however, these values were
significantly lower (P<.05) than those obtained during both
the PUFA n-6 (13.2±0.7) and the PUFA n-3 (13.9±0.6) periods. No
differences in vitamin E content in LDL were noted between the latter
two periods. Plasma vitamin E levels were also measured in micromoles
per liter, which showed a profile similar to that of LDL. SFA
(34.5±1.4) and MUFA (34.9±1.6) periods gave significantly lower
values than PUFA n-6 (41.8±2.9) and PUFA n-3 (45.3±2.8) periods.
TBARS (expressed as nanomoles per milligram of LDL protein) were
determined in freshly isolated LDL. Identical values were observed
during the SFA (0.89±0.05) and the MUFA (1.06±0.04) periods, but they
were significantly higher during the PUFA n-6 (1.56±0.08) or the PUFA
n-3 (1.70±0.07) periods. Resistance to Cu2+-induced
oxidative modification was increased during the MUFA period
(P<.05) with respect to all others, and conjugated diene
formation was significantly increased only with PUFA (n-6 and n-3)
diets (Table 4
).
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SMC Entry in the Cell Proliferation Cycle
Human coronary smooth muscle cell DNA synthesis was
significantly (P<.05) reduced during the MUFA and PUFA n-6
periods but not during the PUFA n-3 diet with respect to the SFA period
(Fig 1A
). Protein content per well was
not significantly modified (range 55-57 µg per well; P=.58
ANOVA among the four dietary periods); therefore, there were no
hypertrophic changes. Cells counted at 48 hours after induction did not
show significant changes among the four dietary periods (range
7x104-10x104 cells/mL, P=.851
ANOVA among the four dietary periods). Cellular survival measured by
mitochondrial activity (MTT method) was similar at this time point
among the four periods (range from 1.46 to 1.89, P=.1573).
Cell premitotic DNA synthesis induced by FCS was significantly lower
(3.2±0.2 times over arrested cells; P=.0001) than that
induced by HCS (8.2±0.5) and from that induced by sera from the
different fatty acidenriched diets (Fig 1A
).
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When results were analyzed by gender a significant effect was
observed between male and female data for SFA, PUFA n-6, and PUFA n-3
periods, with a higher proliferative response systematically induced by
female sera (Fig 1B
). Interestingly, the lowest proliferative effects
were found during the PUFA n-6 period in male sera and the second
lowest for the MUFA period in female sera. Simple regression of
dependent variables (Y) on cell DNA synthesis data was
analyzed (Table 5
). Only
statistically significant regressions are presented in Table 5
.
Total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, HDL
cholesterol, and TGL did not show a significant regression
on induction of DNA synthesis. Oxidation of LDL, within the physiologic
ranges of the study, did not show any relation to premitotic cell DNA
synthesis either.
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The female subset of data was reanalyzed in terms of pre- or
postmenopausal condition. Sera from postmenopausal women (n=8) induced
a significantly higher proliferative index than sera from premenopausal
women (n=4) in all dietary periods (Fig 2
). Cell DNA synthesis induced by
premenopausal female sera was significantly higher than that induced by
male sera in all dietary interventions.
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Platelet Aggregation
Platelet aggregation did not show significant changes during
the four dietary periods (Table 6
).
Neither ADP, collagen, nor epinephrine showed evidence of
changes in platelet function during the interventions.
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| Discussion |
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The isocaloric substitution of SFA by MUFA, PUFA n-6, or PUFA n-3 resulted in a significant decrease in total plasma and LDL cholesterol levels, as reported in other diet studies.22 23 24 The reduction in total cholesterol achieved with either type of PUFA exceeded that obtained with the MUFA diet. This finding probably is related to the degree of nonsaturation.25 HDL cholesterol levels in the total population were similar during the four dietary phases. However, HDL cholesterol levels in women were significantly lower during the PUFA n-6 diet compared with the other three diets, a finding in agreement with results of previously reported studies.19 22
In the present study the susceptibility of plasma LDL to undergo
oxidative modification, as measured by several parameters,
was significantly reduced during the MUFA-enriched diet. Other studies
have shown an increased resistance of LDL to oxidation when comparing
MUFA with PUFA-enriched diets.26 27 28 The increase in MUFA
content of the diet and the associated increase in oleic acid and
decrease in linoleic acid (Table 2
) seem to regulate the resistance of
LDL to oxidative changes. LDL fatty acid distribution (data not shown)
shows a similar profile to that found in plasma (Table 2
).13 Although lag time was decreased during the SFA diet
compared with MUFA diet, conjugated diene formation was similar in both
periods. This suggests that differences in fatty acid content
(18:1/18:2) may influence the lag time before diene formation is
initiated.
Dietary fat saturation may be involved in additional biologic effects beyond those seen in plasma lipoprotein. We tested platelet aggregation to show changes in platelet function. There was no difference among the four dietary periods in platelet response to diverse agonists (ADP, epinephrine, collagen). However, this does not preclude other possible effects of platelets and platelet-released products on SMC function. Serum, used in this study, is a multifactorial universal mitogen, with agonists derived also from blood cells and coagulation. Just because of that multichanneled mitogenic capacity of serum, the reported changes in SMC DNA synthesis by dietary intake are most important. The odds were against finding differences in such a mitogen-rich milieu. Our results demonstrate that human SMC incubated with serum isolated during the MUFA and PUFA n-6 diets have the lowest rate of entry in the S phase of the cell cycle. Conversely, serum obtained during the SFA and PUFA n-3 phases induced the highest DNA synthetic activity. The effect was more pronounced in women than in men, and postmenopausal women show higher SMC proliferation than premenopausal women.
In this study there was no association between any of the lipid parameters, LDL oxidation, and human SMC premitotic DNA synthesis. The relationship between lipoproteins and smooth muscle cell growth has been repeatedly studied, with controversial results.29 30 31 In in vitrosupplemented SMC cultures, lipoproteins have not been shown to be direct growth factors but in some circumstances may potentiate growth in mitogen-stimulated cells.29 30 Our data, with in vivomodified LDL levels within a physiologic span of oxidation, do not show any correlation between LDL and human SMC entry in the cell cycle. However, fatty acids may have a regulatory effect in cell cycle cell entry, as they have in the regulation of gene expression and cell signaling pathways.32 33 Phospholipid and cholesteryl ester fatty acid 20:5 showed a highly significant positive correlation with SMC premitotic DNA synthesis. Cell viability measured by mitochondrial activity at the same time point after induction (48 hours) was unaffected by the different sera.
A limitation of this study is that at the selected time point (48 hours of SMC induction with the human sera) we cannot measure modification in human SMC numbers. In fact, we investigated this point further with HCS and coronary SMC to find that more than 3 days are needed to be able to show a significant difference (data not shown). Changes in 3H-TdR incorporation measure cell entry in the cell cycle by premitotic DNA synthesis but do not exclude changes in cell ploidy and size. Therefore further studies are needed to measure changes in cell number and actual proliferation.
Recent studies have shown that the procedural outcome of coronary angioplasty for postmyocardial infarction ischemia is similar in women and men, but in long-term follow-up data women experience an increased incidence of recurrent angina, an outcome also reported after bypass surgery.34 Interestingly, we have found that sera derived from female individuals, regardless of the dietary period, induced higher rates of premitotic DNA doubling than male sera.
With controversial results, several studies on restenosis have addressed the potential role of a diet supplemented with n-3 fatty acids obtained from fish oil.6 7 8 9 10 The largest trial to date on n-3 fatty acids failed to prevent restenosis after angioplasty.10 Furthermore, a remarkable reduction in recurrent myocardial infarction and death has been found among subjects consuming a diet similar to the usual Mediterranean diet.12 Our results obtained with an enriched olive oil diet could provide, in part, a candidate mechanism to explain the beneficial effects found in secondary prevention of coronary artery disease (CAD) with diets similar to the Mediterranean diet.
This study correlating fatty acid changes in the same individuals with vascular-mediated events provides a unique tool to measure vascular effects of nutrition. Our study comparing four diets has provided detailed information on the effects of fatty acid changes not shown in studies with only two interventions. Direct comparison of SFA with MUFA or PUFA n-6 could have provided evidence of a relation between SMC induction and the lowering effect on LDL, whereas direct comparison of MUFA with PUFA n-3 could have provided evidence of a relation to oxidation.
In summary, our results demonstrate that MUFA and PUFA n-6enriched diets produce the lowest induction of SMC entry in the cell cycle when compared with SFA- and PUFA n-3enriched diets. Whether or not this effect influences cell division and proliferation remains to be elucidated. In addition, a diet rich in MUFA, when substituted for saturates, lowers total and LDL cholesterol without altering HDL cholesterol and without impairing LDL oxidation. These combined effects suggest that a feasible dietary intervention with MUFA could be beneficial and one of the most valuable interventions against atherosclerosis and its complications.
| Selected Abbreviations and Acronyms |
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| Acknowledgments |
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Received May 3, 1996; accepted January 20, 1997.
| References |
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