Terahertz label-free detection of nicotine-induced neural cell changes and the underlying mechanisms

Mingjie Tang; Mingkun Zhang; Ying Fu; Ligang Chen; Dandan Li; Hua Zhang; Zhongbo Yang; Chunlei Wang; Peng Xiu; Jonathan J Wilksch; Yang Luo; Jiaguang Han; Haijun Yang; Huabin Wang

doi:10.1016/j.bios.2023.115697

Terahertz label-free detection of nicotine-induced neural cell changes and the underlying mechanisms

Biosens Bioelectron. 2023 Dec 1:241:115697. doi: 10.1016/j.bios.2023.115697. Epub 2023 Sep 18.

Authors

Mingjie Tang¹, Mingkun Zhang¹, Ying Fu¹, Ligang Chen¹, Dandan Li¹, Hua Zhang¹, Zhongbo Yang¹, Chunlei Wang², Peng Xiu³, Jonathan J Wilksch⁴, Yang Luo⁵, Jiaguang Han⁶, Haijun Yang⁷, Huabin Wang⁸

Affiliations

¹ Research Center of Super-Resolution Optics & Chongqing Engineering Research Center of High-Resolution and Three-Dimensional Dynamic Imaging Technology, Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing, 400714, China; Chongqing School, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing, 400714, China.
² Department of Chemistry, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, China.
³ Department of Engineering Mechanics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China.
⁴ Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
⁵ Center of Smart Laboratory and Molecular Medicine, School of Medicine, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044, China.
⁶ Center for Terahertz Waves and College of Precision Instrument and Optoelectronics Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China.
⁷ Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 201204, China. Electronic address: yanghj@sari.ac.cn.
⁸ Research Center of Super-Resolution Optics & Chongqing Engineering Research Center of High-Resolution and Three-Dimensional Dynamic Imaging Technology, Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing, 400714, China; Chongqing School, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing, 400714, China. Electronic address: wanghuabin@cigit.ac.cn.

PMID: 37751650
DOI: 10.1016/j.bios.2023.115697

Abstract

Nicotine exposure can lead to neurological impairments and brain tumors, and a label-free and nondestructive detection technique is urgently required by the scientific community to assess the effects of nicotine on neural cells. Herein, a terahertz (THz) time-domain attenuated total reflection (TD-ATR) spectroscopy approach is reported, by which the effects of nicotine on normal and cancerous neural cells, i.e., HEB and U87 cells, are successfully investigated in a label/stain-free and nondestructive manner. The obtained THz absorption coefficients of HEB cells exposed to low-dose nicotine and high-dose nicotine are smaller and larger, respectively, than the untreated cells. In contrast, the THz absorption coefficients of U87 cells treated by nicotine are always smaller than the untreated cells. The THz absorption coefficients can be well related to the proliferation properties (cell number and compositional changes) and morphological changes of neural cells, by which different types of neural cells are differentiated and the viabilities of neural cells treated by nicotine are reliably assessed. Collectively, this work sheds new insights on the effects of nicotine on neural cells, and provides a useful tool (THz TD-ATR spectroscopy) for the study of chemical-cell interactions.

Keywords: Absorption coefficient; Label-free; Neural cell; Nicotine; Terahertz spectroscopy.