fig2

Figure 2. Intestinal permeability was further increased by the co-presence of LPA and PAOA. Polarized monolayers of Caco-2 cells co-cultured with HepG2 were assayed for paracellular permeability to 4 kDa FITC-dextrans (FD4). The amount of dextrans diffused from the apical to the basolateral compartments was determined by linear regression at 4 h using known standard concentrations of FD4. The results are represented as mean ± standard deviation of three independent experiments in triplicate (A). Tight junction-associated protein levels were evaluated in lysates from Caco-2 cells co-cultured with HepG2 in the presence or not of LPS and/or PAOA using Western blot: ZO-1 (B); Claudin 1 (C); and Claudin 2 (D). The expressions were normalized for β-actin as the housekeeping gene. For each condition, fresh protein lysates of at least three independent experiments were pooled. ***P < 0.0001 according to one-way ANOVA. LPA: lysophosphatidic acid; PAOA: palmitic and oleic acid; ANOVA: one-way analysis of variance; ZO-1: zonula occludens 1.