Detection of atomic scale changes in the free volume void size of three-dimensional colorectal cancer cell culture using positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy

Eneko Axpe; Tamara Lopez-Euba; Ainara Castellanos-Rubio; David Merida; Jose Angel Garcia; Leticia Plaza-Izurieta; Nora Fernandez-Jimenez; Fernando Plazaola; Jose Ramon Bilbao

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0083838

Detection of atomic scale changes in the free volume void size of three-dimensional colorectal cancer cell culture using positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy

PLoS One. 2014 Jan 2;9(1):e83838. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0083838. eCollection 2014.

Authors

Eneko Axpe¹, Tamara Lopez-Euba², Ainara Castellanos-Rubio³, David Merida⁴, Jose Angel Garcia⁴, Leticia Plaza-Izurieta³, Nora Fernandez-Jimenez³, Fernando Plazaola¹, Jose Ramon Bilbao³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Electricity and Electronics, University of the Basque Country - UPV/EHU, Leioa, Basque Country, Spain.
² Immunogenetics Research Laboratory, BioCruces Research Institute, Barakaldo, Basque Country, Spain.
³ Immunogenetics Research Laboratory, BioCruces Research Institute, Barakaldo, Basque Country, Spain ; Department of Genetics, Physical Anthropology and Animal Physiology, University of the Basque Country - UPV/EHU, Leioa, Basque Country, Spain.
⁴ Department of Applied Physics II, University of the Basque Country - UPV/EHU, Leioa, Basque Country, Spain.

Abstract

Positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS) provides a direct measurement of the free volume void sizes in polymers and biological systems. This free volume is critical in explaining and understanding physical and mechanical properties of polymers. Moreover, PALS has been recently proposed as a potential tool in detecting cancer at early stages, probing the differences in the subnanometer scale free volume voids between cancerous/healthy skin samples of the same patient. Despite several investigations on free volume in complex cancerous tissues, no positron annihilation studies of living cancer cell cultures have been reported. We demonstrate that PALS can be applied to the study in human living 3D cell cultures. The technique is also capable to detect atomic scale changes in the size of the free volume voids due to the biological responses to TGF-β. PALS may be developed to characterize the effect of different culture conditions in the free volume voids of cells grown in vitro.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Cell Culture Techniques*
Cell Line, Tumor
Colorectal Neoplasms / pathology*
Humans
Microscopy, Fluorescence
Spectrum Analysis / methods*
Spheroids, Cellular / pathology*
Tumor Cells, Cultured

Grants and funding

Basque Department of Industry grant no. SAI11/263 – PRODETEC and Basque Department of Education, Universities and Research grant no. IT/443/10. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.