Synergistic anticancer properties of docosahexaenoic acid and 5-fluorouracil through interference with energy metabolism and cell cycle arrest in human gastric cancer cell line AGS cells

Figure 4 Effect of docosahexaenoic acid and 5-fluorouracil alone and in combination on the expression of mitochondrial electron transfer chain complexes in AGS cells. AGS cells were exposed to medium only (control), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) alone (30.00 μg/mL), 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) alone (12.50 μg/mL), or DHA (30.00 μg/mL) plus 5-FU (12.50 μg/mL) for 24 and 48 h. The cells were harvested and subjected to Western blot analysis to detect expression of mitochondrial electron transfer chain complexes I, II and V using specific antibodies for each protein. A-D: Incubation of the cells with DHA or 5-FU for 24 and 48 h resulted in a significant decrease in the expression of complexes I, II and V as compared with control cells; the combination of DHA with 5-FU exhibited a significant decrease in the expression of complexes I, II and V in contrast to DHA and 5-FU group. The results presented are the mean ± SEM of at least three independent experiments. ^aP < 0.05 vs control cells; ^bP < 0.05 vs cells treated with DHA and 5-FU alone for 24 h, respectively; ^cP < 0.05 vs cells treated with DHA and 5-FU alone for 48 h, respectively.