Effects of CaCl₂ and MgCl₂ on Fourier Transform Infrared Spectra of Lung Cancer Cells

Author： Sulé-Suso J. Forster A. Zholobenko V. Stone N. El Haj A.

Publisher： Society for Applied Spectroscopy

ISSN： 0003-7028

Source： Applied Spectroscopy, Vol.58, Iss.1, 2004-01, pp. : 61-67

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Abstract

The cations Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ are two important factors in the growth and maintenance of living cells. The addition of Ca²⁺ to living cells can cause a change in the three-dimensional (3D) structure of calcium binding proteins. Therefore, we decided to study whether the addition of CaCl₂ and MgCl₂ to three in vitro growing lung cancer cell lines could cause changes that could be measured by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy. The addition of CaCl₂ or MgCl₂ to lung cancer cells caused an increase in absorbance of the trough at 1410 cm^-1. This translated into an inversion of the 1410/1395 cm^-1 ratio following the addition of CaCl₂ or MgCl₂ for all three lung cancer cell lines. Also, the amide I peak shifted from around 1631 cm^-1 to lower wavenumbers when CaCl₂ or MgCl₂ was added to cancer cells. Furthermore, the addition of these two substances caused a shift of the peak between 3290 and 3395 cm^-1. Finally, while the addition of CaCl₂ to lung cancer cells was associated with an increased cell death, this was not the case following the addition of MgCl₂. This would confirm that the changes seen in the spectra of all three cell lines are due to metabolic and ionic shifts rather than cell death.