Title: FT-IR spectroscopy as a tool for identification of apoptosis-induced structural changes in A549 cells treated with PM 701

Authors: Gehan Abdel-Raouf Ahmed, Faten Abdul Rahman Khorshid, Taha Abdullah Kumosani

Addresses: Biochemistry Department, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, P.O Box 42805, Jeddah 21551, Saudi Arabia. ' Medical Biology Department, Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, P.O Box 42805, Jeddah 21551, Saudi Arabia. ' Head of Biochemistry Department, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, P.O Box 80203, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia

Abstract: Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy has been found useful for detecting apoptotic changes induced in human lung cancer cells (A549) that treated with PM 701 (natural product) in tissue culture level. Characteristic bands alterations were identified in the apoptotic cells arising from cellular protein, lipid and DNA, there were specific changes that affected the secondary structure of proteins in the apoptotic lung cells appeared in the FTIR spectra confirmed with the second derivative analysis. To follow the induced changes in the apoptotic A549 cells, different band absorbance ratios were calculated for different times up to 24 hours. The results show that there is a marked decrease in the phosphate absorbance ratio from nucleic acids, the minimum value was observed at five minutes of PM 701 treatment meanwhile there is a sharp increase in the lipid-protein ratio the maximum value was obtained for cells treated at five minutes with PM 701. This study suggests that FTIR spectroscopy could possibly be used to monitor apoptosis in A549 cells and prove the efficiency of our new drug PM 701 in cancer treatment.

Keywords: FTIR spectroscopy; apoptosis; A549 cells; structural changes; quantitative analysis; Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy; apoptotic changes; lung cancer cells; cancer treatment; cancer drugs.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNBM.2009.027736

International Journal of Nano and Biomaterials, 2009 Vol.2 No.1/2/3/4/5, pp.396 - 408

Published online: 08 Aug 2009 *

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