Palmitate lipotoxicity is closely associated with the fatty acid-albumin complexes in BV-2 microglia
Open accessAbstract
Palmitic acid (PA) is considered a major contributor to the inflammation in many metabolic diseases; however, this role has been questioned recently for the complicated procedures in preparing PA-bovine serum albumin (BSA) complex. This study is aimed to evaluate the effect of PA-BSA complexing methods on cell viability and inflammatory responses of BV-2 cells. Three commercially available BSA brands and two types of solvents were compared for their effects on the expression of inflammatory cytokines. Three commonly used proportions of PA-BSA were tested for cell viability and inflammatory responses. We found that all the three types of BSA were proinflammatory. Both ethanol and isopropanol dampened inflammation except that 1% isopropanol treatment increased the IL-1β level by 26%. When reducing the BSA content in PA-BSA solutions from 3:1 to 5:1, a marked increase in cell viability (11%) was seen. To our surprise, reducing BSA content in PA-BSA solutions from 5:1 to 10:1 decreased cell viability by 11%. The 5:1 group exhibited the lowest inflammatory profile. Either PA-BSA or BSA alone increased the entry of LPS to the cytosol, which further caused pyroptosis. In summary, we found 5:1 (PA:BSA) to be the best binding ratio for studying inflammation in BV-2 microglia. The presence of LPS in the cytosol in the context of BSA might be the reason for confounding results from palmitate studies.
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In healthy human plasma, the FFA:BSA molar ratio is typically in the range of 1:1-3:1, whereas in pathological conditions it may exceed 5:1-6:1.
“In healthy human plasma, the FFA:BSA molar ratio is typically in the range of 1:1–3:1, whereas in pathological conditions it may exceed 5:1–6:1 [55,145].”
From The HepG2 Cell Line as a Model for Studying Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease (2026) · cites this paper as [145]
The Introduction says that fatty acids bound to BSA have a ratio of 1:1–2:1 under normal physiological conditions and can reach as high as 6:1 in pathological states. It does not give a normal upper bound of 3:1, establish those ranges specifically for healthy human plasma, or say pathological ratios exceed 6:1. (LLM, conf=0.88)
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- Authors
- Yang, Y., Yu, Q., Li, B., Yang, Z., Zhang, S., & Yuan, F.
- Affiliations
- Zhejiang Ocean University (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Yuan, Falei
- Venue
- PLOS ONE
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2023-04-20
- Volume
- 18
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- e0281189
- ISSN
- 1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC10118109
- OpenAlex
- W4366462881
- Cited by
- 15
- References
- 35
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 1
- FWCI
- 1.55
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (82101382 to FLY)
- Zhejiang Ocean University (GK11135091121 to FLY)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Neuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration Mechanisms
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Adipokines, Inflammation, and Metabolic Diseases
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Inflammasome and immune disorders
- Keywords
- palmitate, lipotoxicity, bovine serum albumin, BV-2 cells, inflammatory cytokines, IL-1β, cell viability, lipopolysaccharide, pyroptosis, binding ratio, ethanol, isopropanol
- MeSH terms
- Fatty Acids, Humans, Inflammation, Lipopolysaccharides, Palmitates, Serum Albumin, Bovine, Microglia, Palmitic Acid, 2-Propanol
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