Methionine and cysteine deficiencies altered proliferation rate and time-course differentiation of porcine preadipose cells.

Methionine (Met) is an essential sulfur amino acid (AA) limiting growth and is the precursor of cysteine (Cys), the rate-limiting factor in the synthesis of glutathione, and the main intracellular non-enzymatic antioxidant. This study aimed at determining the effects of limited supplies in Met and(or) Cys in early aspects of adipose tissue development and oxidative stress in differentiated adipocytes. Incremental reductions in Met (70, 40, and 0 µM) were compared with Met 100 µM (control dose) in porcine preadipocytes cultured in media without or with Cys (250 µM). In Cys-deprived media, both the absence (0 µM) and the lowest dose of Met (40 µM) reduced preadipocyte proliferation. Adding Cys in media only partly compensated for this decrease. On the opposite, mild Met deficiency (70 µM) did not alter preadipocyte proliferation in media without or with Cys. Strong Met deficiency (40 µM) also reduced differentiation and lipid accumulation into preadipose cells. Mild Met deficiency also reduced preadipocyte differentiation when Cys was present in the culture media, whereas in Cys-deprived media, percent of differentiated cell was similar and intracellular lipid content was slightly higher at Met 70 µM than at Met 100 µM. Finally, incremental reductions in Met in media with or without Cys lowered reactive oxygen species (ROS) production by differentiated cells. These results demonstrate the strong dependency of porcine adipogenesis to sulfur AA supplies. Strong Met deficiency decreases both proliferation and differentiation, whereas mild deficiency only alters differentiation.