Flow cytometric evaluation of DNA digestion with micrococcal nuclease on isolated HeLa nuclei

Factors affecting flow cytometric detection of apoptotic nuclei by DNA analysis

Apoptotic thymocyte nuclei normally appear on a flow cytometric DNA histogram as a subdiploid peak. We observed that addition of a specific RNase A preparation to the detergent-based lysing buffer increased the fluorescence of toxicant-induced apoptotic nuclei to the level of untreated diploid nuclei. The chelating agent EDTA partially inhibited the RNase effect, suggesting contaminating divalent cations may have been involved. Moreover, spectrofluorometric analysis revealed that addition of RNase or divalent cations decreased the amount of DNA present in the lysate. This suggested that the upscale fluorescence shift was due to a decrease in the ability of the lysing buffer to extract DNA, possibly as a result of cation-induced chromatin condensation, rather than increased accessibility of fluorochrome binding sites due to apoptotic degeneration. Moreover, during a 16-h culture, we observed a similar, but time-dependent, upscale shift in the fluorescence of thymocytes undergoing apoptosis either spontaneously or as a result of exposure to 1 microM tributyltin methoxide (TBT), 2% ethanol, 2% methanol, or 1 microM dexamethasone phosphate (DEX). This commonality of effect suggests that a similar magnitude of chromatin reorganization occurs in apoptotic cells in prolonged culture regardless of the method of apoptotic induction. These findings should alert investigators to potential inaccuracies in the flow cytometric quantitation of apoptosis in in vitro systems employing prolonged toxicant exposures or complex lysing cocktails that may contain active contaminants.

Cell membrane-dependent chromatin condensation

It is shown by means of flow cytometry that during several seconds after cell membrane damage by a non-ionic detergent in physiologically relevant buffer solution, the chromatin of mouse thymocyte nuclei undergoes a drastic decondensation, which is revealed by a sharp increase of binding of DNA-specific fluorochromes (olivomycin or propidium iodide) and of DNA accessibility to DNAse I digestion. A similar change is observed in dead cells. Roughly half of this decondensation can be prevented by lowering the pH of the outside medium to the level known to be inside the cells; the other half remains thus far unexplained (divalent cations and the difference between small anion species seem not to be involved). The approach is based on a novel observation that fixation by formaldehyde conserves chromatin structure before the action of detergent. Flow cytometric assay is proposed for monitoring these condensation/decondensation events in media of different composition. In addition, a new approach to viable/dead cell determination, which has the advantage of immediately fixing the cell state and preserving it for a reasonably long time, is proposed.

DNA stainability with base-specific fluorochromes: dependence on the DNA topology in situ

The influence of DNA topology on stainability with the externally binding fluorochromes Hoechst 33258 (HO) and mithramycin (MI) was investigated in HeLa nuclei in comparison with the intercalating dye propidium iodide (PI). Changes in DNA topology were induced with a mild DNAse I treatment. Stainability properties of untreated and nuclease-treated nuclei were compared with those of the supercoiled-circular and the relaxed-linear forms of the plasmid pBR322. DNAse-treated nuclei stained with HO showed a higher fluorescence intensity than control samples, independently of the dye concentration, in contrast with the findings obtained with PI. Similar behaviour was observed with the relaxed-linear form of pBR322, compared with the supercoiled-circular molecule. With MI, the stainability of HeLa nuclei did not depend on the DNA topology, whereas the stainability of the plasmid was similar to that of HO. In order to assess whether this discrepancy depended on differences in the availability of DNAse-sensitive sites to the fluorochromes, fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) studies were performed in nuclei stained with HO+PI, or with HO+MI dye pairs. After DNAse I digestion, the relative FRET efficiency between donor (HO) and acceptor molecules (PI or MI) was reduced significantly only when MI was the acceptor. This result may be due to greater stainability of DNAse-sensitive sites with HO than with MI. These findings indicate that DNA stainability with base-specific fluorochromes may be affected by the topology of chromatin regions.

Flow cytometric analysis of DNA sensitivity to nuclease S1 in UVC-irradiated human fibroblasts

The sensitivity of human fibroblast DNA towards the activity of nuclease S1 was investigated in situ after irradiation of the cells with UVC light. DNA digestion was assessed using flow cytometry by staining the nuclease-resistant DNA fraction with the specific fluorochrome propidium iodide (PI). The results showed a non-linear dependence of DNA digestion on the UVC irradiation dose between 0 and 20 J m-2. About 70% of the UVC-induced DNA sensitivity to nuclease S1 was lost after 30 min of repair. These results suggest that flow cytometry may be useful for assessing the heterogeneity of cell response to UV damage.

Nuclease-induced DNA structural changes assessed by flow cytometry with the intercalating dye propidium iodide

A flow cytometric analysis of DNA structural changes induced by cleavage with nucleases was performed on isolated HeLa nuclei by assessing changes in stainability with the DNA-specific fluorochrome propidium iodide (PI). After mild digestion with DNAse I, micrococcal nuclease, or with the single-strand-specific S1 and Neurospora crassa nucleases, fluorescence intensity of nuclei stained with PI increased by about 15-30% above the value of undigested control samples. No significant modifications were observed with the restriction enzymes Eco RI, Alu I, and Not I. The DNAse I-induced increase in fluorescence intensity was also observed with the non-intercalating dye Hoechst 33258, but not with mithramycin. Nuclease-induced fluorescence intensity changes as determined with PI were found to be dependent on the dye concentration. A constant increase (about 20%) was measured at dye/DNA-P ratios greater than 0.11. Below this value (2 micrograms/ml PI), the fluorescence intensity of digested samples was 15-30% lower than that of undigested controls. This behaviour towards intercalating dyes is similar to that of the relaxed (nicked) vs. the supercoiled (intact) form of circular DNA. These results suggest that conformation- but not sequence-specific nucleases induce a relaxation of DNA supercoils.

Parameters influencing the flow cytometric analysis of DNA sensitivity to nuclease S1

Some parameters that influence the analysis in situ of DNA sensitivity to digestion with nuclease S1 have been studied in isolated HeLa nuclei with flow cytometry. DNA staining with the intercalating fluorochrome propidium iodide allowed the nucleolytic activity on double-stranded (ds) DNA to be determined by monitoring the relative reduction in nuclear fluorescence intensity. Nuclei isolated in buffer at low ionic strength in order to decondense chromatin fibres, showed a lower fluorescence intensity than nuclei with native chromatin, after digestion with nuclease S1 under identical conditions. Nuclei prepared with dispersed chromatin and digested with increasing amounts of enzyme showed a decrease in fluorescence intensity that reached a limit value at about 50% of the value of undigested control samples. On the other hand, in nuclei with native chromatin, fluorescence intensity decreased only about 18%. The NaCl concentration in the reaction buffer strongly influenced the DNA sensitivity to S1 nuclease. By increasing salt molarity from 5 mM to 200 mM, the digestion of dsDNA was significantly reduced as also shown by the amount of released nucleotides from purified calf thymus DNA. The detection of DNA sensitivity to nuclease S1, as assessed by the cytometric method, was shown to be more sensitive than a biochemical technique involving hydrolysis of purines. These results indicate that both the procedure for nuclei isolation and the digestion conditions have to be carefully controlled when evaluating in situ the presence of S1-sensitive sites.