Human erythrocytes and neuroblastoma cells are affected in vitro by Au(III) ions
- Faculty of Chemical Sciences, University of Concepcion, Casilla 160C, Concepcion (Chile)
- Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Concepcion, Concepcion (Chile)
- Instituto de Quimica, Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso, Valparaiso (Chile)
- CNR Center on Metalloproteins, University of Padova, Padova (Italy)
Gold compounds are well known for their neurological and nephrotoxic implications. However, haematological toxicity is one of the most serious toxic and less studied effects. The lack of information on these aspects of Au(III) prompted us to study the structural effects induced on cell membranes, particularly that of human erythrocytes. AuCl{sub 3} was incubated with intact erythrocytes, isolated unsealed human erythrocyte membranes (IUM) and molecular models of the erythrocyte membrane. The latter consisted of multibilayers of dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine and dimyristoylphosphatidylethanolamine, phospholipids classes located in the outer and inner monolayers of the human erythrocyte membrane, respectively. This report presents evidence that Au(III) interacts with red cell membranes as follows: (a) in scanning electron microscopy studies on human erythrocytes it was observed that Au(III) induced shape changes at a concentration as low as 0.01 {mu}M; (b) in isolated unsealed human erythrocyte membranes Au(III) induced a decrease in the molecular dynamics and/or water content at the glycerol backbone level of the lipid bilayer polar groups in a 5-50 {mu}M concentration range, and (c) X-ray diffraction studies showed that Au(III) in the 10 {mu}m-1 mM range induced increasing structural perturbation only to dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine bilayers. Additional experiments were performed in human neuroblastoma cells SH-SY5Y. A statistically significant decrease of cell viability was observed with Au(III) ranging from 0.1 {mu}M to 100 {mu}M.
- OSTI ID:
- 22202661
- Journal Information:
- Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Vol. 397, Issue 2; Other Information: Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved.; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0006-291X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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