The effect of short-chain fatty acids butyrate, propionate, and acetate on urothelial cell kinetics in vitro: potential therapy in augmentation cystoplasty

The intestinal element of enterocystoplasty is affected by chronic inflammatory changes, which lead to excess mucus production, urinary tract infections, and stone formation. There is also an increased risk of malignancy. These inflammatory changes may be due to diversion colitis, which affects colonic segments excluded from the faecal stream and likewise may respond to intraluminal short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) therapy. The SCFAs have interesting antiproliferative, differentiating, and pro-apoptotic effects, which are protective against colorectal cancer and may influence the risk of malignancy in enterocystoplasty. Before intravesical therapy can be considered, the effect on normal urothelium must be investigated. Primary urothelial cells cultured from biopsy specimens and transformed urothelial (RT112 and MGH-U1) and intestinal cell lines (HT29 and CaCo-2) were incubated with SCFAs. The 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay was used to measure the residual viable biomass to assess cell proliferation. Proliferation of primary and transformed urothelial cells in culture was inhibited by all SCFAs in a similar time- and dose-dependent manner. The concentration of SCFA required to inhibit growth of primary cells by 50% (IC50) was 20 mM of butyrate, 120 mM of propionate, and 240 mM of acetate after incubation for 1 h. After 72 h the IC50 was 2 mM of butyrate, 4 mM of propionate, and 20 mM of acetate. Transformed urothelial and colon cancer cell lines demonstrated similar growth inhibition. Butyrate was the most potent inhibitor of cell proliferation, followed by propionate and then acetate. Growth inhibition is not an immediate cytotoxic effect, and urothelial cells show a degree of adaptation to butyrate and growth recovery after incubation with butyrate. In conclusion, butyrate- and propionate-induced growth inhibition is potentially clinically significant and may have therapeutically beneficial implications in vivo.