To begin seed overnight grown culture of Hep G2 in DMEM in a six well plate. Culture the cells at 37 degrees Celsius for 24 hours. After incubation, add two milliliters of cell culture medium containing oleic acid to each well.
Incubate the cells for 24 hours at 37 degrees Celsius. The next day, remove the culture medium and wash the cells twice with PBS. Add one milliliter of oil red O fixative to each well and incubate for 30 minutes.
Discard the fixative and wash the cells twice with distilled water. Add one milliliter of 60%isopropanol to each well and incubate for 30 seconds. After discarding isopropanol, add one milliliter of freshly prepared oil red O stain solution and incubate for 20 minutes.
Now, add one milliliter of 60%isopropanol and incubate for 30 seconds. Wash the cells five times with water to remove excess dye. After microscopic imaging, observe the cells covered with distilled water on a computer.
After imaging, remove the water from the plate and allow it to dry. Add two milliliters of isopropanol to each well and shake the plate on an orbital shaker for 10 minutes. Transfer 100 microliters of cell suspension to a 96 well plate with 16 wells in each group.
On a microplate reader at 510 nanometers, measure the optical density to calculate the lipid content. Compared to the control cells, Hep G2 cells treated with oleic acid showed increased red staining intensity, indicating higher lipid droplet formation. The lipid droplets and lipids in Hep G2 cells increased with rising oleic acid concentrations.
