[Effect of supplementation of culture media with polyunsaturated fatty acids on the morphology and composition of cell cultures of fetal mouse brain].

Dissociated cell cultures were grown from fetal Mouse Cerebral hemisphere taken on the 16th day of gestation. Cells grown in chemically defined medium (MCD) for 8 days contain half the polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) (in %) found at day 0. Cells contain n-9 trienes demonstrating that they are grown under conditions of essential fatty acid deficiency. The reduced amount of PUFA in MCD cells is balanced by an increase in monounsaturated fatty acids. The satured fatty acids are not affected. The PUFA present in the starting cells are partly preserved and reutilized (70%). Adding fatty acids of the n-6 series increases the content of n-6 fatty acids in the cells, but also provokes an increase in the n-3 fatty acids. Among several combinations of fatty acids, only the mixture of 20:4 and 22:6, added to the culture restores a fatty acid profile similar to controls (i.e. in vivo tissue taken at post-natal day 5). The concentrations were respectively 1 microgram 20:4/25 micrograms albumin/ml and 0,5 microgram/12,5 micrograms albumin/ml. Adding PUFA stimulates the proliferation of small dense cells by more than 200% of the control, as quantified by autoradiography of 3H-thymidine. These cells are not neurons, but possibly oligodendrocytes.