Intermittent Fluorescence Oscillations in Lipid Droplets in a Live Normal and Lung Cancer Cell: Time-Resolved Confocal Microscopy

J Phys Chem B. 2015 Aug 27;119(34):10868-75. doi: 10.1021/jp5120042. Epub 2015 Feb 23.

Abstract

Intermittent structural oscillation in the lipid droplets of live lung cells is monitored using time-resolved confocal microscopy. Significant differences are observed between the lung cancer cell (A549) and normal (nonmalignant) lung cell (WI38). For this study, the lipid droplets are covalently labeled with a fluorescent dye, coumarin maleimide (7-diethylamino-3-(4-maleimido-phenyl)-4-methylcoumarin, CPM). The number of lipid droplets in the cancer cell is found to be ∼20-fold higher than that in the normal (nonmalignant) cell. The fluctuation in the fluorescence intensity of the dye (CPM) is attributed to the red-ox processes and periodic formation/rupture of the S-CPM bond. The amount of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is much higher in a cancer cell. This is manifested in faster oscillations (0.9 ± 0.3 s) in cancer cells compared to that in the normal cells (2.8 ± 0.7 s). Solvation dynamics in the lipid droplets of cancer cells is slower compared to that in the normal cell.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Coumarins / chemistry
  • Fluorescence
  • Humans
  • Lipid Droplets / ultrastructure*
  • Lung / ultrastructure*
  • Lung Neoplasms / pathology*
  • Microscopy, Confocal*
  • Molecular Structure
  • Reactive Oxygen Species / chemistry
  • Reference Standards

Substances

  • Coumarins
  • Reactive Oxygen Species
  • N-(4-(7-diethylamino-4-methylcoumarin-3-yl)phenyl)maleimide