Potential genotoxic effects of low-intensity ultrasound on fibroblasts, evaluated with the cytokinesis-block micronucleus assay.

Although medical ultrasound offers compelling opportunities to improve therapy in principle, progress in the field has been limited because of an insufficient understanding of the potential genotoxic and cytotoxic effects of ultrasound on biological systems. This paper is mainly focused on an in vitro study of effects with respect to genotoxicity and viability induced by 1- and 3-MHz medical ultrasound in murine fibroblasts (NIH-3T3) at low-intensity exposure (spatial peak temporal average intensity Ita<0.1 W/cm(2)).

Structural and permeability sensitivity of cells to low intensity ultrasound: Infrared and fluorescence evidence in vitro.

This work is focused on the in vitro study of the effects induced by medical ultrasound (US) in murine fibroblast cells (NIH-3T3) at a low-intensity of exposure (spatial peak temporal average intensity Ita<0.1Wcm(-2)). Conventional 1MHz and 3MHz US devices of therapeutic relevance were employed with varying intensity and exposure time parameters.

Ultrasound well below the intensity threshold of cavitation can promote efficient uptake of small drug model molecules in fibroblast cells.

Ultrasound (US) induced enhancement of plasma membrane permeability is a hugely promising tool for delivering exogenous vectors at the specific biological site in a safe and efficient way. In this respect, here we report effects of membrane permeability alteration on fibroblast-like cells undergoing very low-intensity of US. The change in permeability was pointed out in terms of high uptake efficiency of the fluoroprobe calcein, thus resembling internalization of small cell-impermeable model drugs, as measured by fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry.

Non ionising radiation as a non chemical strategy in regenerative medicine: Ca(2+)-ICR "In Vitro" effect on neuronal differentiation and tumorigenicity modulation in NT2 cells.

In regenerative medicine finding a new method for cell differentiation without pharmacological treatment or gene modification and minimal cell manipulation is a challenging goal. In this work we reported a neuronal induced differentiation and consequent reduction of tumorigenicity in NT2 human pluripotent embryonal carcinoma cells exposed to an extremely low frequency electromagnetic field (ELF-EMF), matching the cyclotron frequency corresponding to the charge/mass ratio of calcium ion (Ca(2+)-ICR). These cells, capable of differentiating into post-mitotic neurons following treatment with Retinoic Acid (RA), were placed in a solenoid and exposed for 5 weeks to Ca(2+)-ICR.

Nonionizing radiation as a noninvasive strategy in regenerative medicine: the effect of Ca(2+)-ICR on mouse skeletal muscle cell growth and differentiation.

Controlling cell differentiation and proliferation with minimal manipulation is one of the most important goals for cell therapy in clinical applications. In this work, we evaluated the hypothesis that the exposure of myoblast cells (C2C12) to nonionizing radiation (tuned at an extremely low-frequency electromagnetic field at calcium-ion cyclotron frequency of 13.75 Hz) may drive their differentiation toward a myogenic phenotype.

Ultrasound-mediated structural changes in cells revealed by FTIR spectroscopy: a contribution to the optimization of gene and drug delivery.

Ultrasound effects on biological samples are gaining a growing interest concerning in particular, the intracellular delivery of drugs and genes in a safe and in a efficient way. Future progress in this field will require a better understanding of how ultrasound and acoustic cavitation affect the biological system properties. The morphological changes of cells due to ultrasound (US) exposure have been extensively studied, while little attention has been given to the cells structural changes.

New marker of tumor cell death revealed by ATR-FTIR spectroscopy.

Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy in attenuated total reflection can be used to discriminate the necrotic from the apoptotic cell death in a tumoral T cell line irradiated by a UV source able to induce both apoptosis and necrosis. Using Jurkat cells as the model system, significant spectral differences in the irradiated cells vs. time were observed in the lipid-proteins ratio absorbance band at 1,397 cm(-1) and in lactic acid IR band at 1,122 cm(-1); these spectral features are inversely correlated with the percentage of apoptotic cells assessed by flow cytometry.

Differentiation of human adult cardiac stem cells exposed to extremely low-frequency electromagnetic fields.

Aims: Modulation of cardiac stem cell (CSC) differentiation with minimal manipulation is one of the main goals of clinical applicability of cell therapy for heart failure. CSCs, obtained from human myocardial bioptic specimens and grown as cardiospheres (CSps) and cardiosphere-derived cells (CDCs), can engraft and partially regenerate the infarcted myocardium, as previously described. In this paper we assessed the hypothesis that exposure of CSps and CDCs to extremely low-frequency electromagnetic fields (ELF-EMFs), tuned at Ca2+ ion cyclotron energy resonance (Ca2+-ICR), may drive their differentiation towards a cardiac-specific phenotype.

Ion cyclotron resonance as a tool in regenerative medicine.

The identification of suitable stem cell cultures and differentiating conditions that are free of xenogenic growth supplements is an important step in finding the clinical applicability of cell therapy in two important fields of human medicine: heart failure and bone remodeling, growth and repair. We recently demonstrated the possibility of obtaining cardiac stem cells (CSCs) from human endomyocardial biopsy specimens. CSCs self-assemble into multi-cellular clusters known as cardiospheres (CSps) that engraft and partially regenerate infarcted myocardium.

UVB-radiation-induced apoptosis in Jurkat cells: a coordinated fourier transform infrared spectroscopy-flow cytometry study.

We studied the induction of apoptosis in Jurkat cells by UVB radiation (wavelength 290-320 nm) at a dose of 310 mJ/ cm2. We combined Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy with flow cytometry to determine whether the combination of both techniques could provide new and improved information about cell modifications. To do this, we looked for correspondences and correlations between spectroscopy and flow cytometry data and found three highly probable spectroscopic markers of apoptosis.

Extremely low frequency electromagnetic field exposure promotes differentiation of pituitary corticotrope-derived AtT20 D16V cells.

The pituitary corticotrope-derived AtT20 D16V cell line responds to nerve growth factor (NGF) by extending neurite-like processes and differentiating into neurosecretory-like cells. The aim of this work is the study of the effect of extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields (ELF-EMF) at a frequency of 50 Hz on these differentiation activities. To establish whether exposure to the field could influence the molecular biology of the cells, they were exposed to a magnetic flux density of 2 milli-Tesla (mT).

Cell-metal interaction studied by cytotoxic and FT-IR spectroscopic methods.

The main purpose of this work is to investigate the possibility of utilizing both a classical biological method to test cytotoxicity and a physical measurement procedure as the FT-IR spectroscopy to study the interaction between cells lines and heavy metals. Jurkart, a lymphocyte cell line, was treated with cadmium chloride, cadmium oxide and the organic germanium compound named Ge-oxy-132. The utilized value of heavy metal concentration allows us to obtain significant results with both methods and with all metals.

Effects of extremely low frequency (50 Hz) magnetic field on morphological and biochemical properties of human keratinocytes.

We investigated the effects on human keratinocytes (HaCaT) of exposure to a sinusoidal magnetic field of 2 mT (50 Hz). These cells are a good model for studying interaction of nonionising radiation, because they are not shielded from fields in vivo and also because they are resistant to both mechanical and thermal stimuli. We performed scanning microscopy which showed modification in shape and morphology in exposed cells.