Effects of palmitic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid on angiogenesis of porcine vascular endothelial cells

Restricted placental angiogenesis is an important cause of intrauterine growth retardation in piglets. During pregnancy, sow obesity can result in an increase in placental lipid deposition, subsequently inhibiting placental angiogenesis and fetal development. However, the effect of different types of fatty acids on placental angiogenesis is still unclear. Trophoblast cells and vascular endothelial cells constitute two important types of placental tissue. In this study, we used palmitic acid (C16:0) and eicosapentaenoic acid (C20:5, n‐3), respectively, to treat porcine trophectoderm cells (pTr2) and porcine iliac artery endothelial cells (PIEC) to study the effects of saturated fatty acids and n‐3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) on placental angiogenesis in vitro. We found that C16:0 caused significant cytotoxicity in pTr2 and PIEC (p < 0.01) and inhibited the proliferation and migration of PIEC (p < 0.01), whereas C20:5 treatment exhibited very low cytotoxicity and minimal inhibition of cellular proliferation. Meanwhile, a low concentration of C16:0 had no effect on the tube formation in PIEC, whereas C20:5 significantly promoted tube formation of PIEC (p < 0.01). These results suggested that saturated fatty acids and n‐3 PUFAs had different effects on placental angiogenesis. As essential functional fatty acid, n‐3 PUFA might be effective measure in alleviating the placental lipotoxicity caused by sow obesity during pregnancy.