B1 gradient coherence selection using a tapered stripline.

Pulsed-field gradients are common in modern liquid state NMR pulse sequences. They are often used instead of phase cycles for the selection of coherence pathways, thereby decreasing the time required for the NMR experiment. Soft off-resonance pulses with a B1 gradient result in a spatial encoding similar to that created by pulsed-field (B0) gradients. In this manuscript we show that pulse sequences with pulsed-field gradients can easily be converted to one which uses off-resonance B1 field gradient (OFFBEAT) pulses. The advantage of B1 gradient pulses for coherence selection is that the chemical shift evolution during the pulses is (partially) suppressed. Therefore no refocusing echos are required to correct for evolution during the gradient pulses. A tapered stripline is shown to be a convenient tool for creating a well-defined gradient in the B1 field strength. B1 gradient coherence selection using a tapered stripline is a simple and cheap alternative to B0 pulsed-field gradients.

Preferential uptake of cytotoxic porphyrins from hematoporphyrin derivative in murine L929 fibroblasts and Chinese hamster ovary K1 epithelial cells.

Photodynamically induced loss of clonogenicity of murine L929 fibroblasts and Chinese hamster ovary K1 epithelial cells was determined with two different assays. It appeared that the loss of clonogenicity was much higher when 20 cells/cm2 were incubated with hematoporphyrin derivative (HPD) and illuminated, than when confluent cell layers were incubated with the same amount of HPD and illuminated prior to plating out. This dependency of cell killing on the experimental protocol was also observed when protoporphyrin (90-95% pure) was used as photosensitizer, but not when the cells were photodynamically treated with rose bengal or exposed to mitomycin C. Further, when cell layers were incubated with the residual solution that remained after the previous incubation of a confluent cell layer with HPD, illumination of these layers appeared to be almost non-toxic, although the overall porphyrin concentration in the residual solution was only slightly lower than in HPD. These results indicate that the porphyrins, responsible for loss of clonogenicity, are present in relatively small amounts in HPD and unpurified protoporphyrin and are preferentially taken up by the cells. Although 2-aminoisobutyric acid transport and DNA synthesis are among the most photosensitive targets with HPD, photodynamic treatment of L929 cells with the residual solution did not result in inhibition of the transport system and DNA synthesis. In contrast, the K+ content of the cells still decreased considerably, when utilizing the porphyrins, remaining in the residual solution as sensitizer. This indicates that under the present experimental conditions the disturbance of the membrane barrier function does not contribute to loss of clonogenicity of these cells and, moreover, that the photodynamically induced K+ leakage is caused by a component of HPD other than inhibition of 2-aminoisobutyric acid transport and DNA synthesis.

Relationship between photodynamically induced damage to various cellular parameters and loss of clonogenicity in different cell types with hematoporphyrin derivative as sensitizer.

The possible causal relationship between various forms of photodynamically inflicted damage and reproductive cell death of cultivated cells was evaluated according to three criteria. The probability for the existence of such a relationship is high, when the particular form of cellular damage (i) exhibits a dose-effect curve, comparable to the dose-effect curve of loss of clonogenicity, (ii) is not readily repairable during further incubation of the treated cells and (iii) varies in a way comparable to the loss of clonogenicity under varying experimental conditions. According to these criteria it could be shown that many forms of photodynamically inflicted cellular damage are presumably not directly involved in loss of clonogenicity. Only for a few kinds of cellular damage studied in the present investigations was the probability for a causal relationship with reproductive cell death much higher. For L929 fibroblasts this is either an inhibition of the Na+/K(+)-ATPase activity, or a relatively slight DNA damage combined with a strong inhibition of DNA excision repair. For T24 human bladder carcinoma cells the kinds of cellular damage that may be causally related to reproductive cell death are again inhibition of Na+/K(+)-ATPase activity, inhibition of amino-acid (AIB and glycine) transport activity or impairment of mitochondrial function. Finally, for CHO cells, inhibition of leucine and phenylalanine transport and impairment of mitochondrial function may be crucial for loss of clonogenicity. These results indicate that the pathways leading to photodynamically induced reproductive cell death may be quite different for different cell types.

Hematoporphyrin derivative-induced photodynamic inhibition of Na+/K(+)-ATPase in L929 fibroblasts, Chinese hamster ovary cells and T24 human bladder transitional carcinoma cells.

The photodynamically induced inhibition of Na+/K(+)-ATPase with hematoporphyrin derivative as photosensitizer was studied in murine L929 fibroblasts, Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells and T24 human bladder transitional carcinoma cells. In T24 cells the inhibition of the enzyme activity appeared to be caused by ATP depletion rather than by direct damage from the enzyme itself. In L929 and CHO cells, on the other hand, the inhibition was caused by photodynamic damage from the enzyme molecule. For all three cell lines it was shown that a causal relationship between photodynamically induced reduction in Na+/K(+)-ATPase activity and the loss of clonogenicity is highly unlikely.

Synergistic interaction of photodynamic treatment with the sensitizer aluminum phthalocyanine and hyperthermia on loss of clonogenicity of CHO cells.

When CHO cells were exposed to hyperthermia and subsequently to photodynamic treatment, the combined effects were additive but in the reverse sequence the interaction was synergistic. The synergistic interaction comprised two quite different components: (1) photodynamically induced sensitization of cellular proteins and/or supramolecular structures for thermal inactivation and (2) a photodynamically induced inhibition of the cellular repair system for sublethal thermal damage. The first component of the synergistic interaction was reflected by a change of the Arrhenius parameters of thermal cell killing. A lowering of the activation energy of this process was responsible for the synergistic interactions, whereas a concomitant decrease of the frequency factor, opposing this effect, actually caused a much lower degree of synergism at higher temperatures. This component of the synergistic interaction did not respond to the insertion of an intermediate incubation period between the two treatments. The second component of the synergistic interaction, viz the interference with the ability of cells to survive sublethal thermal damage, was reversible, as an intermediate incubation between photodynamic treatment and hyperthermia resulted in its repair. The photodynamically induced inhibition of the ability of cells to survive sublethal thermal damage was not related to ATP or glutathione depletion, inhibition of de novo protein synthesis or impairment of degradation of damaged protein molecules. Restoration of the repair system for sublethal damage depended on a metabolic process and required free intracellular Ca2+, suggesting that a cell signaling pathway may be involved. Thus, in a practical sense the magnitude of the synergistic interaction between photodynamic treatment and hyperthermia depends on the length of the interval between the two treatments and on the temperature and duration of the subsequent thermal treatment. This may have significant consequences for the development of clinical protocols for the combined application of photodynamic therapy and hyperthermia in the treatment of tumors.

The role of protein kinase C activity in the killing of Chinese hamster ovary cells by ionizing radiation and photodynamic treatment.

In several recent studies it has been shown that protein kinase C (PKC) activity may either potentiate or antagonize cell killing by different cytotoxic agents. These apparently conflicting observations suggest that the effects of PKC activity on cell survival may depend on the different properties of different cell types but do not exclude the possibility that the effects may also depend on the nature of the cytotoxic agent. In this context the effects of PKC activation and PKC inhibition or down-regulation on Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell survival after photodynamic treatment and ionizing radiation were studied. It appeared that PKC activation by short-term incubation with 12-O-tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate (TPA) protected CHO cells against ionizing radiation but, in contrast, sensitized the cells to photodynamic treatment. Conversely, inhibition of PKC by H7 and down-regulation of PKC activity by prolonged incubation with TPA sensitized CHO cells to ionizing radiation but protected the cells against photodynamic treatment. These results demonstrate that in one particular cell type PKC activity may have opposite effects on cell survival following cellular damage, depending on the nature of the cytotoxic agent.

In vitro fluence rate effects in photodynamic reactions with AIPcS4 as sensitizer.

It has been shown previously that the efficiency of photodynamic therapy (PDT) both in vivo and in vitro is dependent on fluence rate. In this study, different in vitro experiments showed that tetrasulfonated aluminum phthalocyanine (AIPcS4) is more efficient in photosensitization if the light is delivered at low fluence rate. Erythrocyte damage, virus inactivation and photooxidation of reduced glutathione (GSH) and histidine were all enhanced if light was delivered at 100 W/m2 as compared to 500 W/m2. Bleaching did not occur under these conditions. Oxygen depletion, shown to be important in fluence rate effects observed in vivo, does not seem to be involved. On theoretical grounds saturation of the triplet state is not likely under these conditions. A possible explantation for the observed fluence rate effects might be found in different reaction pathways, that are favored under high or low fluence rate illuminations. These reactions might involve uni- or bimolecular reactions of intermediate products, resulting in less efficiency at higher fluence rate. It proves to be important, under all circumstances, to monitor fluence rate, because a change in fluence rate, even with similar total fluences, might influence photobiological results in an unexpected way.

Potentiation of hyperthermia-induced haemolysis of human erythrocytes by photodynamic treatment. Evidence for the involvement of the anion transporter in this synergistic interaction.

Heat treatment of human erythrocytes led to increased passive cation permeability, followed by haemolysis. K+ leakage was linear up to a loss of about 80% in the temperature range 46-54 degrees C. Kinetic analysis of the results revealed an activation energy of 246 kJ/mol, implicating a transition in the membrane as critical step. Pretreatment of erythrocytes with 4,4'-di-isothiocyano-2,2'-stilbenedisulphonate, chymotrypsin or chlorpromazine caused a potentiation of subsequent heat-induced K+ leakage. Photodynamic treatment of erythrocytes with Photofrin II, eosin isothiocyanate or a porphyrin-Cu2+ complex as sensitizer also induced an increase in passive cation permeability, ultimately resulting in colloid osmotic haemolysis. The combination of photodynamic treatment immediately followed by hyperthermia had a synergistic effect on K+ leakage. Analysis of the results by the Arrhenius equation revealed that both the activation energy and the frequency factor of heat-induced K+ leakage were decreased significantly by preceding photodynamic treatment, suggesting that hyperthermia and photodynamic treatment have a common target for the induction of K+ leakage. Several lines of reasoning indicate that this common target is band 3. A model is thus proposed for the observed potentiation of hyperthermically induced K+ leakage by photodynamic treatment, in which photo-oxidation of band 3 results in increased sensitivity to subsequent thermal denaturation. These phenomena may be of more general significance, as photodynamic treatment and hyperthermia interacted synergistically with respect to K+ leakage with L929 fibroblasts also.

Erythrocytes reduce extracellular ascorbate free radicals using intracellular ascorbate as an electron donor.

Ascorbate is readily oxidized in aqueous solution by ascorbate oxidase. Ascorbate radicals are formed, which disproportionate to ascorbate and dehydroascorbic acid. Addition of erythrocytes with increasing intracellular ascorbate concentrations decreased the oxidation of ascorbate in a concentration-dependent manner. Concurrently, it was found, utilizing electron spin resonance spectroscopy, that extracellular ascorbate radical levels were decreased. Control experiments showed that these results could not be explained by leakage of ascorbate from the cells, inactivation of ascorbate oxidase, or oxygen depletion. Thus, this means that intracellular ascorbate is directly responsible for the decreased oxidation of extracellular ascorbate. Exposure of ascorbate-loaded erythrocytes to higher levels of extracellular ascorbate radicals resulted in the detection of intracellular ascorbate radicals. Moreover, efflux of dehydroascorbic acid was observed under these conditions. These data confirm the view that intracellular ascorbate donates electrons to extracellular ascorbate free radical via a plasma membrane redox system. Such a redox system enables the cells to effectively counteract oxidative processes and thereby prevent depletion of extracellular ascorbate.