Evidence for the involvement of dietary lipids on the modulation of transforming growth factor-β1 in the platelets of male rats

Transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-beta 1), a multifunctional cytokine participates in the proliferation and differentiation of various cell types. Platelets are an important source of TGF-beta 1 and are physiologically linked to a variety of chronic illnesses including cancer, heart disease and inflammation. It is well known that dietary lipids modulate platelet function. Whether dietary lipids affect growth factor status of platelets is not known. This study addresses the effect of dietary lipids on TGF-beta 1 status of the platelets. Male 8 month-old Sprague Dawley rats were allocated to different diet groups. The high fat diets (18% by weight) comprising of high fat beef tallow (HFB), high fat corn oil (HFC), high fat fish oil (HFF) and high fat olive oil (HFO) and one low fat diet containing low fat soybean oil (LFS) (5% by weight) were fed to the experimental animals for 6 weeks. The TGF-beta 1 status in the platelet lysate was assessed by using the CCL-64 mink lung cell bioassay and by Western blot analysis. Platelet lysates were evaluated for their ability to inhibit the growth of the CCL-64 mink lung cells, unexpectedly platelet lysates stimulated growth. The stimulatory effect of platelet lysate was in the order HFF > HFO > HFB > HFC > LFS. Acidification of the lysates to activate the latent form of TGF-beta 1 resulted in the loss of the growth stimulatory potential of the platelet lysates in all the groups. Western blot analysis of the platelet lysates to detect the level of TGF-beta 1 protein demonstrated that HFB diet group had the highest level of TGF-beta 1 and the HFC diet group had the lowest level of TGF-beta 1 and were significantly different (p < 0.05) as compared to the other three diet groups. These findings demonstrate that dietary lipids varying in their fatty acid composition, profoundly affect the level of growth modulating constituents of the platelets. Further studies are warranted to refine our understanding of the effect of dietary constituents on the physiology of the platelets.