Different Glycerides Species Exercise Selective Cytotoxic Activity on Colon Cancer Cells 
R. Ramos-Bueno, E. Venegas-Venegas, M.A. Rincón-Cervera, A. González-Montoya, J.L. Guil-Guerrero
Food Technology Division, University of Almeria
Almería (Spain)

Colorectal cancer is one of the major causes of death in Western countries and its incidence can be increased by unhealthy dietary habits such as diet high in fat. Different lipid messengers such as the enzymes fatty acid synthase (FAS) and monoacylglycerol lipase (MAGL), have been proposed to play a major role in this kind of cancer development. MAGL regulates a fatty acids (FAs) network enriched in oncogenic signaling lipids, being its activity in colorectal tumor tissues signiﬁcantly higher than in healthy tissues and enhances promotion in tumor progression. Previously, it has noted a cytotoxic activity of 2-monoacylglycerol (2-MAG) on some cancer cell types; therefore, the elucidation of the cytotoxic activity of the combinations of glycerol with different FAs in the colon cancer would suggest possible therapeutic options.
In this work, several glycerides species have been assayed on human colon cancer cells. Glycerides containing FAs at different regiospecific positions of the glycerol backbone were obtained after a standard hydrolysis of natural triglycerides from six different commercial oils and further purification by Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC). 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) reduction and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) intracellular activities were studied as cytotoxic indicators.
Cytotoxic activity essays showed that some of the glycerides were dose dependent, being the lowest cell viability percentage at the highest tested concentration (200 µg/mL). However, natural oils which are composed mainly by triglycerides (most of cases >99 %) (TAGs), showed no cytotoxic activity. On the other hand, the results of LDH assays gave a lack of negative effect on cell death. 
According to this study, it can be concluded that the structure of the glycerides is related with the intensity of their cytotoxic activity. Furthermore, the lack of cytotoxicity obtained in LDH assays showed that cell death is not the mechanism whereby glycerides exert cytotoxicity on the colon cancer cells.