Raman micro spectroscopy for in vitro drug screening: subcellular localisation and interactions of doxorubicin.

Vibrational spectroscopy, including Raman micro spectroscopy, has been widely used over the last few years to explore potential biomedical applications. Indeed, Raman micro spectroscopy has been demonstrated to be a powerful non-invasive tool in cancer diagnosis and monitoring. In confocal microscopic mode, the technique is also a molecularly specific analytical tool with optical resolution which has potential applications in subcellular analysis of biochemical processes, and therefore as an in vitro screening tool of the efficacy and mode of action of, for example, chemotherapeutic agents. In order to demonstrate and explore the potential in this field, established, model chemotherapeutic agents can be valuable. In this study paper, Raman micro spectroscopy coupled with confocal microscopy were used for the localization and tracking of the commercially available drug, doxorubicin (DOX), in the intracellular environment of the lung cancer cell line, A549. Cytotoxicity assays were employed to establish clinically relevant drug doses for 24 h exposure, and Confocal Laser Scanning Fluorescence Microscopy was conducted in parallel with Raman micro spectroscopy profiling to confirm the drug internalisation and localisation. Multivariate statistical analysis, consisting of PCA (principal components analysis) was used to highlight doxorubicin interaction with cancer cells and spectral variations due to its effects before and after DOX spectral features subtraction from nuclear and nucleolar spectra, were compared to non-exposed control spectra. Results show that Raman micro spectroscopy is not only able to detect doxorubicin inside cells and profile its specific subcellular localisation, but, it is also capable of elucidating the local biomolecular changes elicited by the drug, differentiating the responses in different sub cellular regions. Further analysis clearly demonstrates the early apoptotic effect in the nuclear regions and the initial responses of cells to this death process, demonstrating the potential of the technique to monitor the mechanisms of action and response on a molecular level, with subcellular resolution.

Cellular discrimination using in vitro Raman micro spectroscopy: the role of the nucleolus.

Raman micro spectroscopy has attracted considerable attention over the last few years to explore its possible clinical applications as a non-invasive powerful label-free in vitro screening tool in cancer diagnosis and monitoring, subcellular analysis of biochemical processes, drug uptake, mode of action and mechanisms of interaction as well as toxicity of, for example, chemotherapeutic agents. However, in order to evaluate accurately the potential of Raman micro spectroscopy for such applications it is essential to optimise measurement and data processing protocols associated with subcellular analysis. To this end, in vitro differentiation of cell lines is a basic proof of concept for the potential of the technique, and although many studies have indicated successful differentiation based on Raman micro spectroscopy, it is important, as the measurement and processing techniques are improved, to establish the biochemical and subcellular basis of that discrimination. In this study, Raman micro spectroscopy is used to compare and differentiate normal and cancer cells from human lung origin, A549 adenocarcinoma cell line, Calu-1 epidermoid non-small-cell and BEAS-2B normal immortalized bronchial epithelium cell line. Spectra were taken from the three subcellular compartments, cytoplasm, nucleus and nucleolus and Principal Components Analysis was used to compare the spectral profiles between the cell lines and, coupled to Linear Discriminant Analysis, to explore the optimum sensitivity and specificity of discrimination. To support the analysis, Raman micro spectroscopy was coupled with Flow Cytometry, Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy and Atomic Force Microscopy. While all subcellular regions can be employed to differentiate the normal and cancer cell lines, optimum discrimination sensitivity and specificity is achieved using the spectra from the nucleolar region alone. Notably, only the nucleolar spectral profiles differentiate the two cancer cell lines. The results point to the importance of the nucleolar regions in diagnostic applications of Raman microscopy as well as further applications in subcellular analysis of cytological processes.