| | Category | BI | L08 | Effects of Fatty Acids on Skeletal Muscle Proliferation and |
| | Development |
| | Abstract | Studies show that fatty acids have an important role in the human body, |
| | aiding cognitive development and other human functions. I investigate how |
| | fatty acids affect skeletal muscle proliferation and muscle fiber formation, |
| | namely in the C2C12 cell line. This is important not only for athletes, but |
| | also for the elderly who tend to lose muscle with age. I treated C2C12 cells |
| | with three different fatty acids: docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), oleic acid, |
| | and palmitic acid. I hypothesize that DHA, an essential fatty acid with many |
| | positive effects on the human body, will promote the greatest muscle |
| | proliferation and development. I first examined cell proliferation by treating |
| | C2C12 cells for 24 hours with a 100 micro-molar concentration of each |
| | fatty acid and 10% FBS growth medium. Using a hemocytometer, the oleic |
| | acid consistently proved to yield the highest cell count. From this, I |
| | conclude that oleic acid promotes the greatest muscle proliferation. Next, I |
| | examined muscle fiber development by treating the cells for one week with |
| | a 50 micro-molar concentration of each fatty acid and 2% horse serum |
| | growth medium, which is known to promote muscle fiber formation. I took |
| | pictures under the microscope and found that the DHA formed the most |
| | massive muscle fibers. More quantitative results were obtained by |
| | examining relative myosin heavy chain gene expression through qPCR. |
| | Results show that the palmitic acid yielded the highest MHC expression |
| | while the DHA yielded the lowest. I conclude that DHA promotes muscle |
| | mass while palmitic acid promotes the formation of muscle fibers. |
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