Differences and similarities in biophysical and biological characteristics between U87 MG glioblastoma and astrocyte cells

Current cancer studies focus on molecular-targeting diagnostics and interactions with surroundings; however, there are still gaps in characterization based on topological differences and elemental composition. Glioblastoma (GBM cells; GBMCs) is an astrocytic aggressive brain tumor. At the molecular level, GBMCs and astrocytes may differ, and cell elemental/topological analysis is critical for identifying potential new cancer targets. Here, we used U87 MG cells for GBMCS. U87 MG cell lines, which are frequently used in glioblastoma research, are an important tool for studying the various features and underlying mechanisms of this aggressive brain tumor. For the first time, atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) accompanied by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) are used to report the topology and chemistry of cancer (U87 MG) and healthy (SVG p12) cells. In addition, F-actin staining and cytoskeleton-based gene expression analyses were performed. The degree of gene expression for genes related to the cytoskeleton was similar; however, the intensity of F-actin, anisotropy values, and invasion-related genes were different. Morphologically, GBMCs were longer and narrower while astrocytes were shorter and more disseminated based on AFM. Furthermore, the roughness values of these cells differed slightly between the two call types. In contrast to the rougher astrocyte surfaces in the lamellipodial area, SEM-EDS analysis showed that elongated GBMCs displayed filopodial protrusions. Our investigation provides considerable further insight into rapid cancer cell characterization in terms of a combinatorial spectroscopic and microscopic approach.

New thiadiazole modified chitosan derivative to control the growth of human pathogenic microbes and cancer cell lines

The emergence of multidrug-resistant microbes and the propagation of cancer cells are global health issues. The unique properties of chitosan and its derivatives make it an important candidate for therapeutic applications. Herein, a new thiadiazole derivative, 4-((5-(butylthio)-1,3,4-thiadiazol-2-yl) amino)-4-oxo butanoic acid (BuTD-COOH) was synthesized and used to modify the chitosan through amide linkages, forming a new thiadiazole chitosan derivative (BuTD-CH). The formation of thiadiazole and the chitosan derivative was confirmed by FT-IR, ¹H/¹³C-NMR, GC-MS, TGA, Elemental analysis, and XPS. The BuTD-CH showed a high antimicrobial effect against human pathogens Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, and Candida albicans with low MIC values of 25-50 μg ml^-1 compared to unmodified chitosan. The in-vitro cytotoxicity of BuTD-CH was evaluated against two cancer cell lines (MCF-7 and HepG2) and one normal cell (HFB4) using the MTT method. The newly synthesized derivatives showed high efficacy against cancerous cells and targeted them at low concentrations (IC₅₀ was 178.9 ± 9.1 and 147.8 ± 10.5 μg ml^-1 for MCF-7 and HepG2, respectively) compared with normal HFB4 cells (IC₅₀ was 335.7 ± 11.4 μg ml^-1). Thus, low concentrations of newly synthesized BuTD-CH could be safely used as an antimicrobial and pharmacological agent for inhibiting the growth of human pathogenic microbes and hepatocellular and adenocarcinoma therapy.

Spectroscopic and microscopic comparisons of cell topology and chemistry analysis of mouse embryonic stem cell, somatic cell and cancer cell

While embryonic stem cells and cancer cells are known to have many similarities in signalling pathways, healthy somatic cells are known to be different in many ways. Characterization of embryonic stem cell is crucial for cancer development and cancer recurrence due to the shared signalling pathways and life course with cancer initiator and cancer stem cells. Since embryonic stem cells are the sources of the somatic and cancer cells, it is necessary to reveal the relevance between them. The past decade has seen the importance of interdisciplinary studies and it is obvious that the reflection of the physical/chemical phenomena occurring on the cell biology has attracted much more attention. For this reason, the aim of this study is to elementally and topologically characterize the mouse embryonic stem cells, mouse lung squamous cancer cells, and mouse skin fibroblast cells by using Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) supported with Electron Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) techniques in a complementary way. Our AFM findings revealed that roughness data of the mouse embryonic stem cells and cancer cells were similar and somatic cells were found to be statistically different from these two cell types. However, based on both XPS and SEM-EDS results, surface elemental ratios vary in mouse embryonic stem cells, cancer cells and somatic cells. Our results showed that these complementary spectroscopic and microscopic techniques used in this work are very effective in cancer and stem cell characterization and have the potential to gather more detailed information on relevant biological samples.

Chemical characterization of red cells from the black sea urchin Arbacia lixula by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

Red spherula cells (RSC) from sea urchin coelomic fluid have attracted great interest for their specific and intriguing properties, such as for example antimicrobial activities and immune response, that probably tie in with their red characteristic pigments. Although to date different studies have been reported aimed to chemically characterize their pigments extracted from the cells, few data are available about the chemical characterization of the cell surface. In this work, a systematic chemical characterization of the RSC surface by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis is described. The results were compared with data on colorless cells from the same coelomic fluid sample. Our observations evidenced that the two cell types were characterized by the presence of different chemical functional groups. In particular, the colorless cells are dominated by the presence of alkyl, alcohol, amide, and carboxyl groups in accordance with other similar cell types, enriched in Na⁺ and Cl⁻ ions. Traces of elements like S (sulphonates) and P (phosphates) are also present. On the other hand, the RSC in addition to the alkyl groups show a reduction in the content of amide groups, accompanied by the anomalous presence of keto-enolic groups that probably can be associated with the presence of quinones/hydro-quinones from red pigments. A chemical enrichment in elements such as Cl⁻ and Mg²⁺ and sulphate groups (–R–O–SO₃⁻), as well as the presence of sulphides and phosphates traces, is evident. The absence of carbonate groups is also observed in both cell populations, confirming the absence of sodium and magnesium carbonate salts. No traces of toxic elements (i.e., heavy metals) have been revealed.

Red spherula cells from sea urchin coelomic fluid have attracted great interest for their specific and intriguing properties, such as antimicrobial activities and immune response, that probably tie in with their red characteristic pigments.

Analytical Methodologies for Agrometallomics: A Critical Review

Agrometallomics, as an independent interdiscipline, is first defined and described in this review. Metallic elements widely exist in agricultural plants, animals and edible fungi, seed, fertilizer, pesticide, feedstuff, as well as the agricultural environment and ecology, and even functional and pathogenic microorganisms. So, the agrometallome plays a vital role in molecular and organismic mechanisms like environmetallomics, metabolomics, proteomics, lipidomics, glycomics, immunomics, genomics, etc. To further reveal the inner and mutual mechanism of the agrometallome, comprehensive and systematic methodologies for the analysis of beneficial and toxic metals are indispensable to investigate elemental existence, concentration, distribution, speciation, and forms in agricultural lives and media. Based on agrometallomics, this review summarizes and discusses the advanced technical progress and future perspectives of metallic analytical approaches, which are categorized into ultrasensitive and high-throughput analysis, elemental speciation and state analysis, and spatial- and microanalysis. Furthermore, the progress of agrometallomic innovativeness greatly depends on the innovative development of modern metallic analysis approaches including, but not limited to, high sensitivity, elemental coverage, and anti-interference; high-resolution isotopic analysis; solid sampling and nondestructive analysis; metal chemical species and metal forms, associated molecular clusters, and macromolecular complexes analysis; and metal-related particles or metal within the microsize and even single cell or subcellular analysis.

New Tools for Imaging Neutrophils: Work Function Mapping and Element-Specific, Label-Free Imaging of Cellular Structures

Photoemission electron microscopy and imaging X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy are today frequently used to obtain chemical and electronic states, chemical shifts, work function profiles within the fields of surface- and material sciences. Lately, because of recent technological advances, these tools have also been valuable within life sciences. In this study, we have investigated the power of photoemission electron microscopy and imaging X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy for visualization of human neutrophil granulocytes. These cells, commonly called neutrophils, are essential for our innate immune system. We hereby investigate the structure and morphology of neutrophils when adhered to gold and silicon surfaces. Energy-filtered imaging of single cells are acquired. The characteristic polymorphonuclear cellular nuclei divided into 2-5 lobes is visualized. Element-specific imaging is achieved based on O 1s, P 2p, C 1s, Si 2p, and N 1s core level spectra, delivering elemental distribution with submicrometer resolution, illustrating the strength of this type of cellular morphological studies.

Combining surface-sensitive microscopies for analysis of biological tissues after neural device implantation

In order to address the complexity of chemical analysis of biological systems, time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and x-ray photoemission electron microscopy (XPEEM) were used for combined surface imaging of a biological tissue formed around a surface neural device after implantation on a nonhuman primate brain. Results show patterns on biological tissue based on extracellular matrix (ECM) and phospholipid membrane (PM) molecular fragments, which were contrasted through principal component analysis of ToF-SIMS negative spectrum. This chemical differentiation may indicate severe inflammation on tissue with an early case of necrosis. Quantification of the elemental composition and the chemical bonding states on both ECM-rich and PM-rich features was possible through XPS analysis from survey and high-resolution spectra, respectively. Variable amounts of carbon (68%-80.5%), nitrogen (10%-2.4%), and oxygen (20.8%-16.5%) were detected on the surface of the biological tissue. Chlorine, phosphorous sodium, and sulfur were also identified in lower extends. Besides that, analysis of the C 1s high-resolution spectra for the same two regions (ECM and PM ones) showed that a compromise between C-C (41.8 at. %) and C-N/C-O (35.6 at. %) amounts may indicate a strong presence of amino acids and proteoglycans on the ECM fragment-rich region, while the great amount of C-C (70.1 at. %) on the PM fragment-rich region is attributed to the large chains of fatty acids connected to phospholipid molecules. The micrometer-scale imaging of these chemical states on tissue was accomplished through XPEEM analysis. The C-C presence was found uniformly distributed across the entire analyzed area, while C-N/C-O and C=O were in two distinct regions. The combination of ToF-SIMS, XPS, and XPEEM is shown here as a powerful, noninvasive approach to map out elemental and chemical properties of biological tissues, i.e., identification of chemically distinct regions, followed by quantification of the surface chemical composition in each distinct region.