Biogenesis and metabolic fate of docosahexaenoic and arachidonic acids in rat uterine stromal cells in culture.

To gain some insight into the mechanisms involved in the opposing effects of arachidonic acid and docosahexaenoic acid on the growth of rat uterine stromal cells (UIII cells), the dynamics of the uptake, conversion, and incorporation of labeled 18:2(n-6), 18:3(n-3), 20:4(n-6), 20:5(n-3), and 22:6(n-3) into lipid pools and phospholipid subclasses were examined. A very active and time-dependent conversion of [14C]18:3(n-3) to higher homologs was observed; 64.7 +/- 0.7 and 11.5 +/- 0.4% of the [14C] radioactivity incorporated in cellular lipids was recovered as 22:5(n-3) and 22:6(n-3) after 72 h incubation, respectively. The distribution of labeled fatty acids obtained after 72 h incubation with [3H]20:5(n-3) was not significantly different from that observed with 18:3(n-3). Arachidonic acid was the major fatty acid formed from [14C]18:2(n-6) and only trace amounts of 22:5(n-6) were detected. When cells were incubated for 72 h with 20:4(n-6), more than 75% of the radioactivity was recovered as arachidonate and slightly higher amounts of 22:4(n-6) and 22:5(n-6) were formed compared to those obtained after incubation with 18:2(n-6). Using both [14C]- and [3H]22:6(n-3), no significant retroconversion of labeled 22:6(n-3) occurred in the cells. More than 90% of labeled 20:4(n-6) and 22:6(n-3) taken up by the cells were esterified into phospholipids, but significant differences in their distribution among phospholipid classes and subclasses were observed. Docosahexaenoic acid was more rapidly and efficiently incorporated into phosphatidylethanolamine than 20:4(n-6) and was principally recovered in plasmalogens. Arachidonic acid was mainly incorporated in the diacyl subclasses of phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine and in phosphatidylinositol. The divergent profiles of these two fatty acids within the phospholipid compartments provide some information for the mechanisms of their opposite effects on UIII cell growth.