Formation of lysophosphatidic acid, a wound-healing lipid, during digestion of cabbage leaves.

Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) is a lipid mediator that plays a role in the process of wound healing in animal tissues, including the digestive tract. We determined LPA in several foodstuffs, and found that cabbage leaves were the richest source of LPA. We also found that, at 22 and 195 nmol/g (wet weight), LPA and phosphatidic acid (PA) were respectively formed during mastication of raw cabbage leaves and that the resulting PA was converted to LPA by pancreatic phospholipase A(2). The lipid extract obtained from ground cabbage leaves promoted the proliferation of Swiss 3T3 fibroblasts and the motility of HGC-27 cells, stomach-derived epithelial-like cells, at physiologically relevant concentrations. These activities of cabbage lipids were inhibited by Ki16425, an LPA-receptor antagonist. LPA formed during the digestion of cabbage leaves may be one of the components in the beneficial effect of ingested cabbage on a damaged digestive tract.