The fatty acid compositions of established fish cell lines after long-term culture in mammalian sera.

The effect of long-term culture of fish cells in mammalian serum on the phospholipid fatty acid composition was investigated. All the cell lines studied had much lower levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) than those found in intact fish tissues. In particular (n-3) PUFA were considerably depleted in the cultured cell lines, leading to very low (n-3)/(n-6) ratios in all the phospholipid classes. In general the cells were rich in 18:1, 16:0, 18:0 and 16:1 with 20:4(n-6) and 22:6(n-3) as the major PUFA. The fatty acid composition reflected the composition of the fetal calf serum added to the media rather than their fish tissue origins. The results were discussed in relation to the roles of PUFA in general cell metabolism and more specifically the role of (n-3) PUFA in fish cells.