Rectification of the water permeability in COS-7 cells at 22, 10 and 0°C

HepG2 cells undergo regulatory volume decrease by mechanically induced efflux of water and solutes

This study challenges the conventional belief that animal cell membranes lack a significant hydrostatic gradient, particularly under anisotonic conditions, as demonstrated in the human hepatoma cell line HepG2. The Boyle van't Hoff (BvH) relation describes volumetric equilibration to anisotonic conditions for many cells. However, the BvH relation is simple and does not include many cellular components such as the cytoskeleton and actin cortex, mechanosensitive channels, and ion pumps. Here we present alternative models that account for mechanical resistance to volumetric expansion, solute leakage, and active ion pumping. We found the BvH relation works well to describe hypertonic volume equilibration but not hypotonic volume equilibration. After anisotonic exposure and return isotonic conditions cell volumes were smaller than their initial isotonic volume, indicating solutes had leaked out of the cell during swelling. Finally, we observed HepG2 cells undergo regulatory volume decrease at both 20 °C and 4 °C, indicating regulatory volume decrease to be a relatively passive phenomenon and not driven by ion pumps. We determined the turgor-leak model, which accounts for mechanical resistance and solute leakage, best fits the observations found in the suite of experiments performed, while other models were rejected.

Meta-analysis of the Boyle van 't Hoff relation: Turgor and leak models explain non-ideal volume equilibrium

There has been much recent attention paid to the interaction of cell volume, its regulation, and the molecular biology of the cell. Cells are generally assumed to behave as linear osmometers, with their water volume linearly proportionate to the inverse of osmotic pressure as described by the Boyle van 't Hoff (BvH) relation. This study evaluates the generality of this and other long-standing assumptions about cell responses to anisotonic conditions. We present alternative models that account for osmoregulation including mechanical resistance to volumetric expansion (the turgor model) and ion-osmolyte leakage (the leak model). To evaluate the generality of the BvH relation and determine the suitability of alternative models, we performed a comprehensive survey of the literature and a careful analysis of the resulting data, and then we used these data to compare among models. We identified 137 articles published from 1964 to 2019 spanning 14 animal species and 26 cell types and determined the BvH relation is not an appropriate general model but is adequate when restricted to the hypertonic region. In contrast, models that account for either mechanical resistance or ion-osmolyte leakage fit well to almost all collected data. The leak model has fitted parameters that are in the same range as the current literature estimate, while the turgor model typically requires an elastic modulus value of one or multiple orders of magnitude larger than literature values. However, confirmation of the underlying mechanism of osmotic regulation is required at the cell-specific level and cannot be assumed a priori.

A mechano-osmotic feedback couples cell volume to the rate of cell deformation

Mechanics has been a central focus of physical biology in the past decade. In comparison, how cells manage their size is less understood. Here we show that a parameter central to both the physics and the physiology of the cell, its volume, depends on a mechano-osmotic coupling. We found that cells change their volume depending on the rate at which they change shape, when they spontaneously spread are externally deformed. Cells undergo slow deformation at constant volume, while fast deformation leads to volume loss. We propose a mechano-sensitive pump and leak model to explain this phenomenon. Our model and experiments suggest that volume modulation depends on the state of the actin cortex and the coupling of ion fluxes to membrane tension. This mechano-osmotic coupling defines a membrane tension homeostasis module constantly at work in cells, causing volume fluctuations associated with fast cell shape changes, with potential consequences on cellular physiology.

Principles Underlying Cryopreservation and Freeze-Drying of Cells and Tissues

Cryopreservation and freeze-drying can be used to preserve cells or tissues for prolonged periods. Vitrification, or ice-free cryopreservation, is an alternative to cryopreservation that enables cooling cells to cryogenic temperatures in the absence of ice. The processing pathways involved in (ice-free) cryopreservation and freeze-drying of cells and tissues, however, can be very damaging. In this chapter, we describe the principles underlying preservation of cells for which freezing and drying are normally lethal processes as well as for cells that are able to survive in a reversible state of suspended animation. Freezing results in solution effects injury and/or intracellular ice formation, whereas drying results in removal of (non-freezable) water normally bound to biomolecules, which is generally more damaging. Cryopreservation and freeze-drying require different types of protective agents. Different mechanistic modes of action of cryoprotective and lyoprotective agents are described including minimizing ice formation, preferential exclusion, water replacement, and vitrification. Furthermore, it is discussed how protective agents can be introduced into cells avoiding damage due to too large cell volume excursions, and how knowledge of cell-specific membrane permeability properties in various temperature regimes can be used to rationally design (ice-free) cryopreservation and freeze-drying protocols.

Transport processes in equine oocytes and ovarian tissue during loading with cryoprotective solutions

BACKGROUND

Rational design of cryopreservation strategies for oocytes and ovarian cortex tissue requires insights in the rate at which cryoprotective agents (CPA) permeate and concomitant water transport takes place. The aim of the current study was to investigate possible differences in permeation kinetics of different CPAs (i.e., glycerol/GLY, ethylene glycol/EG, dimethyl sulfoxide/DMSO, and propylene glycol/PG), in equine oocytes as well as ovarian tissue.

METHODS

Membrane permeability of oocytes to water (Lp) and to CPAs (Ps) was inferred from video microscopic imaging of oocyte volume responses during perfusion with anisotonic and CPA solutions. CPA diffusion into ovarian tissue and tissue dehydration was monitored during incubation, using osmometer and weight measurements, to derive CPA diffusion coefficients (D).

RESULTS

Membrane permeability of oocytes towards CPAs was found to increase in the order GLY < EG < DMSO<PG. Permeability towards water in anisotonic solutions was determined to be higher than in CPA solutions, indicating CPAs alter membrane permeability properties. CPA diffusion in ovarian tissue increased in the order GLY,PG < EG,DMSO. Tissue dehydration was found to increase with exposure to increasing CPA concentrations, which inversely correlated with CPA diffusivity.

CONCLUSIONS

In conclusion, it is shown here that the rate of CPA movement across membrane bilayers is determined by different physical barrier factors than those determining CPA movement in tissues.

GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE

The parameters presented in this study can be applied in models describing solute and water transport in cells and tissues, as well as in cryopreservation protocols.

Factors Affecting the Membrane Permeability Barrier Function of Cells during Preservation Technologies

Cellular membranes are exposed to extreme conditions during the processing steps involved in cryopreservation (and freeze-drying) of cells. The first processing step involves adding protective agents. Exposing cells to protective agents causes fluxes of both water and solutes (i.e., permeating cryoprotective agents) across the cellular membrane, resulting in cell volume changes and possibly osmotic stress. In addition, protective molecules may interact with lipids, which may lead to membrane structural changes and permeabilization. After loading with protective agents, subsequent freezing exposes cells to severe osmotic and mechanical stresses, caused by extra and/or intracellular ice formation and a drastically increased solute concentration in the unfrozen fraction. Furthermore, cellular membranes undergo thermotropic and lyotropic phase transitions during cooling and freezing, which drastically alter the membrane permeability and its barrier function. In this article, it is shown that membrane permeability to water and solutes is dependent on the temperature, medium osmolality, types of solutes present, cell hydration level, and absence or presence of ice. Freezing most drastically alters the membrane permeability barrier function, which is reflected as a change in the activation energy for water transport. In addition, membranes become temporarily leaky during freezing-induced fluid-to-gel membrane phase transitions, resulting in the uptake of impermeable solutes.

Osmosis, from molecular insights to large-scale applications

Osmosis is a universal phenomenon occurring in a broad variety of processes and fields. It is the archetype of entropic forces, both trivial in its fundamental expression - the van 't Hoff perfect gas law - and highly subtle in its physical roots. While osmosis is intimately linked with transport across membranes, it also manifests itself as an interfacial transport phenomenon: the so-called diffusio-osmosis and -phoresis, whose consequences are presently actively explored for example for the manipulation of colloidal suspensions or the development of active colloidal swimmers. Here we give a global and unifying view of the phenomenon of osmosis and its consequences with a multi-disciplinary perspective. Pushing the fundamental understanding of osmosis allows one to propose new perspectives for different fields and we highlight a number of examples along these lines, for example introducing the concepts of osmotic diodes, active separation and far from equilibrium osmosis, raising in turn fundamental questions in the thermodynamics of separation. The applications of osmosis are also obviously considerable and span very diverse fields. Here we discuss a selection of phenomena and applications where osmosis shows great promises: osmotic phenomena in membrane science (with recent developments in separation, desalination, reverse osmosis for water purification thanks in particular to the emergence of new nanomaterials); applications in biology and health (in particular discussing the kidney filtration process); osmosis and energy harvesting (in particular, osmotic power and blue energy as well as capacitive mixing); applications in detergency and cleaning, as well as for oil recovery in porous media.

Plasma Membrane Targeting of Endogenous NKCC2 in COS7 Cells Bypasses Functional Golgi Cisternae and Complex N-Glycosylation

Na⁺K⁺2Cl⁻ co-transporters (NKCCs) effect the electroneutral movement of Na⁺-K⁺ and 2Cl⁻ ions across the plasma membrane of vertebrate cells. There are two known NKCC isoforms, NKCC1 (Slc12a2) and NKCC2 (Slc12a1). NKCC1 is a ubiquitously expressed transporter involved in cell volume regulation, Cl⁻ homeostasis and epithelial salt secretion, whereas NKCC2 is abundantly expressed in kidney epithelial cells of the thick ascending loop of Henle, where it plays key roles in NaCl reabsorption and electrolyte homeostasis. Although NKCC1 and NKCC2 co-transport the same ions with identical stoichiometry, NKCC1 actively co-transports water whereas NKCC2 does not. There is growing evidence showing that NKCC2 is expressed outside the kidney, but its function in extra-renal tissues remains unknown. The present study shows molecular and functional evidence of endogenous NKCC2 expression in COS7 cells, a widely used mammalian cell model. Endogenous NKCC2 is primarily found in recycling endosomes, Golgi cisternae, Golgi-derived vesicles, and to a lesser extent in the endoplasmic reticulum. Unlike NKCC1, NKCC2 is minimally hybrid/complex N-glycosylated under basal conditions and yet it is trafficked to the plasma membrane region of hyper-osmotically challenged cells through mechanisms that require minimal complex N-glycosylation or functional Golgi cisternae. Control COS7 cells exposed to slightly hyperosmotic (~6.7%) solutions for 16 h were not shrunken, suggesting that either one or both NKCC1 and NKCC2 may participate in cell volume recovery. However, NKCC2 targeted to the plasma membrane region or transient over-expression of NKCC2 failed to rescue NKCC1 in COS7 cells where NKCC1 had been silenced. Further, COS7 cells in which NKCC1, but not NKCC2, was silenced exhibited reduced cell size compared to control cells. Altogether, these results suggest that NKCC2 does not participate in cell volume recovery and therefore, NKCC1 and NKCC2 are functionally different Na⁺K⁺2Cl⁻ co-transporters.

The uptake of HIV Tat peptide proceeds via two pathways which differ from macropinocytosis

Cell penetrating peptides (CPPs) have been extensively studied as vectors for cellular delivery of therapeutic molecules, yet the identity of their uptake routes remained unclear and is still under debate. In this study we provide new insights into CPP entry routes by quantitatively measuring the intracellular uptake of FAM-labeled Tat-peptide under rigorous kinetic and thermal conditions. The uptake of Tat-peptide between 4 and 15°C corresponds to Q10=1.1, proceeding through a prompt (<5 min), temperature-independent process, suggesting direct membrane translocation. At longer durations, Tat rate of uptake shows linear dependence on temperature with Q10=1.44, accompanied by activation energy Ea=4.45 Kcal/mole. These values are significantly lower than those we found for the macropinocytosis probe dextran (Q10=2.2 and Ea=7.2 Kcal/mole) which possesses an exponential dependence on temperature, characteristic of endocytosis processes. Tat-peptide and dextran do not interfere with each other's uptake rate and the ratio of Tat-peptide uptake to its extracellular concentration is ~15 times higher than that for dextran. In addition, Phloretin, a modulator of cell membrane dipole potential, is shown to increase dextran uptake but to reduce that of Tat. We conclude that the uptake of Tat differs from that of dextran in all parameters. Tat uptake proceeds by dual entry routes which differ by their energy dependence.

Nanofluidic osmotic diodes: theory and molecular dynamics simulations

Osmosis describes the flow of water across semipermeable membranes powered by the chemical free energy extracted from salinity gradients. While osmosis can be expressed in simple terms via the van 't Hoff ideal gas formula for the osmotic pressure, it is a complex phenomenon taking its roots in the subtle interactions occurring at the scale of the membrane nanopores. Here we use new opportunities offered by nanofluidic systems to create an osmotic diode exhibiting asymmetric water flow under reversal of osmotic driving. We show that a surface charge asymmetry built on a nanochannel surface leads to nonlinear couplings between water flow and the ion dynamics, which are capable of water flow rectification. This phenomenon opens new opportunities for water purification and complex flow control in nanochannels.

Regulatory volume decrease in COS-7 cells at 22 °C and its influence on the Boyle van't Hoff relation and the determination of the osmotically inactive volume

Cryobiological analyses assume that the direction and rate of water movements across cell membranes and equilibrium cell volumes are determined solely by differences in the chemical potentials of intra- and extra-cellular water. A consequence of this assumption is that cells obey the Boyle van't Hoff (BvH) law which states that cell volumes are a linear function of reciprocal osmolality. Extrapolation of the BvH plot to infinite osmolality yields a quantity b, the fractional volume of the cell occupied by solids. In many cells, however, a cell volume excursion above the isotonic volume initiates an energy-requiring response that causes the swollen cells to shrink back to or towards isotonic volume. It is referred to as regulatory volume decrease (RVD). We have observed a strong RVD in COS-7 cells. If not eliminated by keeping exposure times short, this RVD produces a b that is 60% too high (0.48 vs. 0.30). These results indicate the importance of examining cells for volume regulatory mechanisms before performing measurements to determine their osmotic parameters.