Carbon monoxide modulates melatonin synthesis in porcine pineal Cells in vitro: a preliminary study.

Two main isoforms of heme oxygenase (HO-1 and HO-2), the main enzyme of heme metabolism, were identified in the pineal gland. This suggests possible interactions between the melatonin synthesis pathway and the HO system. The aim of this study was to investigate the participation of carbon monoxide (CO), an HO by-product, on the melatonin synthesis pathway. Tests were carried using primary cell cultures of porcine pineal glands. The tricarbonyldichlororuthenium (II) dimer (CORM-2) compound was used as a CO donor at concentrations of 1 and 3 µM, as low concentrations of CORM-2 affect the regulation of the melatonin synthesis pathway in pineal cells in vitro. In addition, the presence of Sn-protoporphyrin-IX, an HO inhibitor, changed the melatonin response of pineal cells. These results suggest the existence of an intermediate mechanism in the pineal gland, which is associated with HO activity, that is involved in the modulation of melatonin synthesis.

Electromagnetic fields with frequencies of 5, 60 and 120 Hz affect the cell cycle and viability of human fibroblast BJ in vitro.

The impact of electromagnetic field (EMF) on humans has been described in numerous studies, but many questions are still unanswered. The aim of the experiment described in this study was to evaluate the effect of EMF on the viability of human fibroblast BJ in vitro and the percentage of cells in different phases of the cell cycle (G1/G0, S, G2/M) after 2 hours of exposure to sinusoidal continuous and pulsed EMFs with frequency of 5 Hz, 60 Hz and 120 Hz at a magnetic induction of 2,5 mT. The viability of BJ cells exposed to an EMF was estimated immediately after completion of exposure and after 24 hours. Metabolic activity of cells was assessed by MTT assay and compared to a control culture not exposed to EMFs. Cell cycle analysis was performed by BrdU incorporation. The analysis of the viability demonstrated significant differences in field efficiency, depending on its nature. Exposure of cells to pulse EMFs resulted in a decrease in their viability for each of the analyzed frequencies. Reduced viability was maintained for a further 24 hours after the end of exposure of cells to pulsed EMF. In the case of continuous field, reduced BJ cell viability was observed only at the highest applied frequency - 120Hz, and this effect maintained for the next 24 hours. Although there was no significant effect on cell viability (metabolic activity) of cells immediately after exposure to continuous EMF with a frequency of 5Hz, a significant increase was observed after 24 hours of incubation.

The impact of electromagnetic field at a frequency of 50 Hz and a magnetic induction of 2.5 mT on viability of pineal cells in vitro.

The impact of electromagnetic fields (EMF) on the pineal gland has been described in numerous studies, but many questions still remain unanswered. The aim of the experiment described in this study was to evaluate the effect of EMF on the viability of the pineal gland cells of pig in vitro. Primary culture of the pineal gland cells has been exposed to the influence of an EMF at a frequency of 50 Hz with 1, 2 or 3 hours and for 3 hours every 2 or 3 days. After the experiment, viability of cells was assessed by MTT assay and compared to a control culture not exposed to electromagnetic fields. We noticed that in respect to the control, exposure of the cells to the EMF induced a significant increase in viability of cells at 2 and 3 hours of exposure. After three days of 3-hour exposure to EMF, we observed a significant decrease in cell viability in relation to the control. The results of these studies suggest that EMF can have a significant biological effect on the cells of the pineal gland in a time-dependent exposure to its action.

THE INFLUENCE OF CARBON MONOXIDE ON THE SECRETION OF MELATONIN BY PINEALOCYTES MEASURED IN VITRO.

Photoperiod is considered the most important factor entraining the circannual physiological rhythms through changing circadian patterns of melatonin (MEL) secretion from the pineal gland. The pineal gland of mammals does not respond directly to light but is controlled by light via neuronal phototransduction originating in the retina. In accordance with humoral phototransduction hypothesis, the aim of this study was to determine whether an increased concentration of CO, as a carrier of a light signal in pineal cell culture, affects the synthesis of melatonin. This study demonstrates that a commonly used carbon monoxide donor (CORM-2) markedly stimulated melatonin release from pineal cells incubated in vitro in a time-dependent manner, but the mechanism whereby CO modulates MEL release needs to be further explored.

Electromagnetic field of extremely low frequency has an impact on selected chemical components of the honeybee.

The electromagnetic field (EMF) is an environmental factor affecting living organisms. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the effect of an extremely low frequency electromagnetic field (ELF-EMF) on selected chemical components of the honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The FTIR method provides information on the chemical structure of compounds through identification and analysis of functional groups. The honeybees were treated with EMF at a frequency of 50 Hz and magnetic induction of 1.6 mT for 2, 6, 12, 24 and 48 hours. Analysis of FTIR spectra showed that EMF exposure longer than 2 hours induced changes in the structure of chemical compounds, especially in the IR region corresponding to DNA, RNA, phospholipids and protein vibrations, compared to control samples (bees not EMF treated). The results confirm the effect of EMF on bees depending on the duration of exposure.

The classification of lung cancers and their degree of malignancy by FTIR, PCA-LDA analysis, and a physics-based computational model.

Lung cancer has the highest mortality rate of all malignant tumours. The current effects of cancer treatment, as well as its diagnostics, are unsatisfactory. Therefore it is very important to introduce modern diagnostic tools, which will allow for rapid classification of lung cancers and their degree of malignancy. For this purpose, the authors propose the use of Fourier Transform InfraRed (FTIR) spectroscopy combined with Principal Component Analysis-Linear Discriminant Analysis (PCA-LDA) and a physics-based computational model. The results obtained for lung cancer tissues, adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma FTIR spectra, show a shift in wavenumbers compared to control tissue FTIR spectra. Furthermore, in the FTIR spectra of adenocarcinoma there are no peaks corresponding to glutamate or phospholipid functional groups. Moreover, in the case of G2 and G3 malignancy of adenocarcinoma lung cancer, the absence of an OH groups peak was noticed. Thus, it seems that FTIR spectroscopy is a valuable tool to classify lung cancer and to determine the degree of its malignancy.

Verification of the effectiveness of the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy computational model for colorectal cancer.

Colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancers. Its formation is influenced by genetic and environmental factors. Despite the continuous development of diagnostic tools and cancer therapies, there are no methods that allow a real-time estimation of treatment efficiency. This method can be a vibrational spectroscopy. The resulting infrared spectrum (FTIR) of the tissue gives us information about the chemical composition and the content of the individual components. We have noticed that tumor tissues, healthy and after chemotherapy tissues, have different vibrational spectra. It was also shown that spectra acquired from normal (benign) tissues were similar to those derived from tissues post-chemotherapy. The similarity was greater, when the effectiveness of chemotherapy, confirmed by medical documentation, was better. Therefore, we decided to use the physical model proposed in our earlier paper to verify its correctness and to show whether a particular type of chemotherapy was effective or not. Comparison of the results obtained from the physical model with patients data have been found as close to the physical condition.

Monitoring breast cancer treatment using a Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy-based computational model.

Breast cancer affects one in four women, therefore, the search for new diagnostic technologies and therapeutic approaches is of critical importance. This involves the development of diagnostic tools to facilitate the detection of cancer cells, which is useful for assessing the efficacy of cancer therapies. One of the major challenges for chemotherapy is the lack of tools to monitor efficacy during the course of treatment. Vibrational spectroscopy appears to be a promising tool for such a purpose, as it yields Fourier transformation infrared (FTIR) spectra which can be used to provide information on the chemical composition of the tissue. Previous research by our group has demonstrated significant differences between the infrared spectra of healthy, cancerous and post-chemotherapy breast tissue. Furthermore, the results obtained for three extreme patient cases revealed that the infrared spectra of post-chemotherapy breast tissue closely resembles that of healthy breast tissue when chemotherapy is effective (i.e., a good therapeutic response is achieved), or that of cancerous breast tissue when chemotherapy is ineffective. In the current study, we compared the infrared spectra of healthy, cancerous and post-chemotherapy breast tissue. Characteristic parameters were designated for the obtained spectra, spreading the function of absorbance using the Kramers-Kronig transformation and the best fit procedure to obtain Lorentz functions, which represent components of the bands. The Lorentz function parameters were used to develop a physics-based computational model to verify the efficacy of a given chemotherapy protocol in a given case. The results obtained using this model reflected the actual patient data retrieved from medical records (health improvement or no improvement). Therefore, we propose this model as a useful tool for monitoring the efficacy of chemotherapy in patients with breast cancer.