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Cell membrane study...
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Cell membrane study...
I would also like to know what type of culture (HeLa, animal blood, etc.) would be best for a study of introducing omega 3 fatty acids to the cells? I would also like to know if omega 3s are absorbed by cells in culture or if you need to introduce them a special way? I was wondering what the best way to test cell membrane strength would be?
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SciB
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Re: Cell membrane study...
Hi Dave,
Can you give us a few more details about your project? What question are you asking exactly and what is the hypothesis? How did you plan to test the hypothesis?
Have you done some reading online about omega 3 fatty acids and how they are metabolized? They are not water soluble. When you eat fish that have omega 3 FAs or take a supplement they pass through your digestive system and enter cells through a lipoprotein carrier. If you simply added the oils to the growth medium of cells in culture they would not take it up because they would not be dissolved.
Fatty acids can be dissolved in ethyl alcohol (ethanol) and this solution can be added to the cell culture medium. The final concentration of ethanol in the culture medium should be no higher than 0.2%. What I don't know is how much oil will dissolve in a given amount of ethanol at a certain temperature. Human cells like HeLa are cultured at 37 C which temperature would increase the solubility of omega 3's. If you plan to do the cell culture work at a university lab they would be licensed to buy and use 95% ethanol.
Post again with some more information about your project and we will try to help you design the experiments.
Sybee
Can you give us a few more details about your project? What question are you asking exactly and what is the hypothesis? How did you plan to test the hypothesis?
Have you done some reading online about omega 3 fatty acids and how they are metabolized? They are not water soluble. When you eat fish that have omega 3 FAs or take a supplement they pass through your digestive system and enter cells through a lipoprotein carrier. If you simply added the oils to the growth medium of cells in culture they would not take it up because they would not be dissolved.
Fatty acids can be dissolved in ethyl alcohol (ethanol) and this solution can be added to the cell culture medium. The final concentration of ethanol in the culture medium should be no higher than 0.2%. What I don't know is how much oil will dissolve in a given amount of ethanol at a certain temperature. Human cells like HeLa are cultured at 37 C which temperature would increase the solubility of omega 3's. If you plan to do the cell culture work at a university lab they would be licensed to buy and use 95% ethanol.
Post again with some more information about your project and we will try to help you design the experiments.
Sybee