Objective: To investigate the protective effect of fibroblast growth factors-21 (FGF-21) and rosiglitazone sodium (RO) on palmitic acid-induced apoptosis in HIT-T15 cells.
Methods: (1) HIT-T15 cells were treated with 0.25 mmol/L, 0.50 mmol/L and 1.00 mol/L of palmitic acid for 24 hours. (2) FGF-21 [12.50 nmol/L (A), 25.00 nmol/L(B), 50.00 nmol/L(C)], or 1 micromol/L of RO, or a combination of the two were added to the cells treated with 0.50 mmol/L of palmitic acid. Cell apoptosis was measured by flow cytometer. Phosphorylation-c-Jun N-terminal kinases (p-JNK) was detected by immuocytochemistry and Western blot.
Results: (1) The cells treated with palmitic acid has significantly higher apoptosis rates than controls (P < 0.05). (2) FGF-21 reduced apoptosis rates induced by palmitic acid (P < 0.05). But the apoptosis rates remained higher than controls (P < 0.05). A combination of FGF-21 and RO further reduced the apoptosis rates compared with FGF-21 alone (P < 0.05). (3) The cells treated with palmitic acid had higher expression of p-JNK than controls (P < 0.05). FGF-21 and a combination of FGF-21 and RO reduced the expression of p-JNK in cells treated with palmitic acid (P < 0.05).
Conclusion: (1) Palmitic acid induces apoptosis in HIT-T15 cells in a dose dependent way. (2) The expression of p-JNK induced by palimitic acid is reduced by FGF-21 and the combination of FGF-21 and RO.