Effects of ω3 fatty acids on receptor tyrosine kinase and PLC activities in EMT6 cells

The effects of ω3 fatty acids and epidermal growth factor (EGF) on the activity of receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) and phospholipase C (phosphatidylinositol (PI)-specific PLC) were examined in EMT6 cells. The non-ω3 treated, non-EGF stimulated cells served as controls. Treatment of the EMT6 cells with ω3 fatty acids resulted in a 62% increase in RTK activity and a 67% increase in PI-specific PLC activity. When EGF was added to incubations for RTK activity, it stimulated the RTK activity 40% in the control cells and 130% in the ω3-treated cells. When EGF was added to incubations for PI-specific PLC activity, a 54% increase in PI-specific PLC activity was observed in control cells and a 94% increase in the ω3-treated cells. Thus, treating EMT6 cells with ω3 fatty acids seems to increase RTK activity and PI-specific PLC activity to a similar extent, but has differential effects on the ability of these enzyme activities to be stimulated by EGF.