Effect of essential fatty acids on proliferation of two neural tumor lines.

A combination of linoleic and linolenic acids has been shown to be able to partly replace serum in maintaining cell division of neural tumor lines. Addition of essential fatty acids to C-6 rat astrocytoma cells grown in serum-deprived medium increased the rate of cell proliferation and restored morphological appearance. Essential fatty acids also restored the rate of 3H-thymidine uptake by N-18 neuroblastoma cells grown in a serum-deprived medium. In the complete absence of serum, neuroblastoma cells were unable to proliferate despite addition of essential fatty acids. These studies indicate the importance of essential fatty acids in controlling the rate of neural tumor proliferation.