Abstract:Objective To investigate the effect of palmitic acid (PA) on caspase-12 and proliferation and apoptosis in rat hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) when stimulated by transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1). Methods HSCs were randomly divided into five groups: Sham group, TGF-β1 group, TGF-β1 + low PA group,TGF-β1 + middle PA group and TGF-β1 + high PA group. HSCs were stimulated by TGF-β1 (5 ng/ml) for 24 hours followed by co-incubation with PA under different doses (50, 100, and 200 umol/L). No intervention was performed in Sham group. Cell proliferation was detected by MTT; morphological manifestations of cells were obtained by transmission electronmicroscope; apoptosis rate was determined by flow cytometry; expression levels of caspase-12 was measured by Immunohistochemistry. Results Cellular proliferation was significantly inhibited with PA treatment in a dose dependent manner (P < 0.05). Transmission electronmicroscope showed typical apoptotic features such as small nuclei, large numbers of mitochondria vacuoles and obvious edge sets of DNA. Treatment of PA dramatically increased apoptosis rate when compared with TGF-β1 group [(7.26 ±0.46) %vs (1.70 ±0.14) %, P< 0.05; (11.24 ±0.52)% vs (1.70 ±0.14) %, P< 0.05; (15.55 ±0.31)% vs (1.70 ±0.14) %,P< 0.05]. Expression of caspase-12 protein increased significantly with PA in dose dependent manner (P <0.05). Conclusion PA inhibits cellular proliferation through promoting caspase-12 mediated apoptosis in HSCs.