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Updated: Aug 19, 2026
Murine Prostate Micro-dissection and Surgical Castration
Published on: May 11, 2016
Increased phospholipid fatty acid remodeling in human and rat prostatic adenocarcinoma tissues
F H Faas1, A Q Dang, M Pollard
1Department of Medicine, John L. McClellan Memorial Veterans' Hospital, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, USA.
Purpose:
To study the mechanism of diminished arachidonic acid levels in malignant prostatic tissues.
Materials And Methods:
Benign and malignant prostate tissues were obtained from human radical prostatectomy specimens and from rats using Pollard's Lobund/Wistar rat prostate cancer model. Fatty acid composition and a variety of enzyme activities involved in maintaining phospholipid fatty acid composition were compared in malignant and benign prostatic tissues.
Results:
Decreased arachidonic acid levels, previously reported in human prostate cancer, were present in malignant rat as well as in human tissues. There were 21% and 26% decreases of arachidonic acid levels in the rat and human malignant tissues compared with benign tissues. Fatty acid desaturase activity was undetectable. Fatty acyl-CoA hydrolase and synthetase activities were not altered in the malignant tissues. However, there was a 2-fold increase in phospholipase A2 activity and a 4- to 12-fold increase in fatty acyl-CoA lysophosphatidylcholine acyltransferase activity in malignant rat and human prostatic tissues.
Conclusions:
These data indicate that, in malignant prostate tissues, the fatty acid remodeling mechanism is activated through the deacylation-reacylation cycle. This process may be a result of increased use of arachidonic acid for the formation of prostaglandins that may be crucial for the further development and growth of the malignant tissues.
