THz irradiation inhibits cell division by affecting actin dynamics

Shota Yamazaki; Yuya Ueno; Ryosuke Hosoki; Takanori Saito; Toshitaka Idehara; Yuusuke Yamaguchi; Chiko Otani; Yuichi Ogawa; Masahiko Harata; Hiromichi Hoshina

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0248381

THz irradiation inhibits cell division by affecting actin dynamics

PLoS One. 2021 Aug 2;16(8):e0248381. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0248381. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Terahertz Sensing and Imaging Research Team, RIKEN Center for Advanced Photonics, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan.
² Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan.
³ Research Center for Development of Far-Infrared Region, University of Fukui (FIR UF), Bunkyo, Fukui, Japan.
⁴ Laboratory of Bio-Sensing Engineering, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kitashirakawa-Oiwakecho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan.

Abstract

Biological phenomena induced by terahertz (THz) irradiation are described in recent reports, but underlying mechanisms, structural and dynamical change of specific molecules are still unclear. In this paper, we performed time-lapse morphological analysis of human cells and found that THz irradiation halts cell division at cytokinesis. At the end of cytokinesis, the contractile ring, which consists of filamentous actin (F-actin), needs to disappear; however, it remained for 1 hour under THz irradiation. Induction of the functional structures of F-actin was also observed in interphase cells. Similar phenomena were also observed under chemical treatment (jasplakinolide), indicating that THz irradiation assists actin polymerization. We previously reported that THz irradiation enhances the polymerization of purified actin in vitro; our current work shows that it increases cytoplasmic F-actin in vivo. Thus, we identified one of the key biomechanisms affected by THz waves.

Publication types

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

MeSH terms

Actins / metabolism
Actins / radiation effects*
Cell Division / radiation effects*
Cytokinesis / radiation effects
HeLa Cells / radiation effects
Humans
Interphase / radiation effects
Microscopy, Fluorescence
Single-Cell Analysis
Terahertz Radiation*

Substances

Actins

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) KAKENHI Grant Numbers JP19K15812, JP20H05378, JP21H02151, JP20K21261, JP21H04746, the JSPS Core-to- Core Program (Advanced Research Networks) entitled “Establishment of international agricultural immunology research-core for a quantum improvement in food safety, the RIKEN–AIST Joint Research Fund (Semi-full research), the Cooperative Research Program of Research Center for Development of Far-Infrared Region University of Fukui (R02FIRDM022A, R03FIRDG018A) and the Japan-Czech Republic Research Cooperative Program between JSPS and CAS grant number JPJSBP120202501. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.