Topology-Based Prediction of Pathway Dysregulation Induced by Intense Terahertz Pulses in Human Skin Tissue Models

Hough, Cameron M.; Purschke, David N.; Huang, Chenxi; Titova, Lyubov V.; Kovalchuk, Olga; Warkentin, Brad; Hegmann, Frank A.

doi:10.1007/s10762-018-0512-4

Cited by 13 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Therefore, by using a train of intense pulses with a low duty cycle (~10 -9 ) to limit thermal effects, we hoped to study the non-thermal effects of THz radiation on one aspect of biological systems: membrane permeability. Current literature has supported the hypothesis that THz induces phenotypic changes on a cellular/tissue level: THz exposure has been shown to increase membrane permeability (Gallerano 2004), non-thermally induce differential gene expression in human keratinocytes and skin models and induce inflammatory-like responses (Hough et al 2018). For this reason, we predicted that THz radiation will compromise the permeability of RBL-2H3 cell membranes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 74%

Terahertz radiation may not alter rat basophilic leukemia cell membrane permeability to propidium iodide

et al. 2021

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Terahertz radiation (THz) technology is fast-growing, with applications in sensing, security, monitoring and pharmaceutical industries. Since it is non-invasive, THz has been used as a diagnostic and therapeutic tool in medicine but its specific effects on biological systems is still largely under-studied. THz has been used to image tissues and cells mainly because it allows for identification of morphological features without the need for fluorescent or radioactive labels, but the potential effects of high intensities of THz radiation are currently not well understood. One of the hypotheses that has been proposed for possible effects of THz on living cells, is that it disrupts the cell membrane and induces increased permeability. To test this hypothesis we exposed a rat basophilic leukemia cell line (RBL-2H3) to non-thermal intense THz radiation (duration, dose, etc) and observed the internalization of propidium iodide, a fluorescent intercalating agent that binds to DNA. We did not observe any changes in RBL-2H3 fluorescence following exposure to these intense THz pulses suggesting that exposure of RBL-2H3 to THz radiation may not increase their membrane permeability. These experiments were preliminary and further optimization and analysis is required before we can make definitive conclusions. However, our preliminary observations have set a baseline of RBL-2H3 internalization of propidium iodide, show that it is possible to expose RBL-2H3 cells to THz radiation using our configuration, and set the stage for future experiments.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 74%

Terahertz radiation may not alter rat basophilic leukemia cell membrane permeability to propidium iodide

et al. 2021

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“…When similar object was exposed, for 10 min, to broadband pulsed radiation with quite close parameters (the frequency range of 0.1 to 3.0 THz, the pulse repetition rate of 1 kHz, the pulse duration of 1 ps, the peak irradiance of

, or the average irradiance of

) in Refs. 256 – 258 , 1681 genes changed their expression, among which 1088 and 593 genes were down- and upregulated, respectively. Bioinformatic analysis showed that through the observed changes in the activity of many of these genes, the processes of initiation, maintenance, and progression of a cancer are suppressed; suppression of the glioma pathway is especially well indicated.…”

Section: Terahertz Exposure Of Biological Objects With Different Levels Of Organizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite the fact that these predictions are based on observations in the skin tissue models, the gene-level mechanisms responsible for the negative perturbation are genes that encode for proteins involved in the calcium and mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling; these are ubiquitous and well-conserved across many different cell types, including skin and neural cells. 258 Moreover, the authors observed explicit activation of an inflammatory response and suppression of a promitotic signaling, including the suppression of cellular functions, such as cell division, differentiation, motility, and apoptosis. Existence of an energy threshold for the observed effects is quite important: namely, at lower THz radiation intensities (the pulse energy of

or the electric field strength of

), no significant changes were observed, as compared with the intense THz exposure (

and

), that caused the genetic changes.…”

Section: Terahertz Exposure Of Biological Objects With Different Levels Of Organizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Existence of an energy threshold for the observed effects is quite important: namely, at lower THz radiation intensities (the pulse energy of

or the electric field strength of

), no significant changes were observed, as compared with the intense THz exposure (

and

), that caused the genetic changes. 256 – 258 Among the observed genomic response, special attention was paid to the THz-wave effect on calcium signaling pathway due to its general significance in biological regulation. An additional study of the differential gene expression profiles, in the case of the five different THz exposure irradiances in the range of 0.6 to

, revealed suppression of this pathway by THz radiation and enhancement of this effect with the exposure intensity.…”

Section: Terahertz Exposure Of Biological Objects With Different Levels Of Organizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cellular effects of terahertz waves

et al. 2021

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. Significance: An increasing interest in the area of biological effects at exposure of tissues and cells to the terahertz (THz) radiation is driven by a rapid progress in THz biophotonics, observed during the past decades. Despite the attractiveness of THz technology for medical diagnosis and therapy, there is still quite limited knowledge about safe limits of THz exposure. Different modes of THz exposure of tissues and cells, including continuous-wave versus pulsed radiation, various powers, and number and duration of exposure cycles, ought to be systematically studied. Aim: We provide an overview of recent research results in the area of biological effects at exposure of tissues and cells to THz waves. Approach: We start with a brief overview of general features of the THz-wave–tissue interactions, as well as modern THz emitters, with an emphasis on those that are reliable for studying the biological effects of THz waves. Then, we consider three levels of biological system organization, at which the exposure effects are considered: (i) solutions of biological molecules; (ii) cultures of cells, individual cells, and cell structures; and (iii) entire organs or organisms; special attention is devoted to the cellular level. We distinguish thermal and nonthermal mechanisms of THz-wave–cell interactions and discuss a problem of adequate estimation of the THz biological effects’ specificity. The problem of experimental data reproducibility, caused by rareness of the THz experimental setups and an absence of unitary protocols, is also considered. Results: The summarized data demonstrate the current stage of the research activity and knowledge about the THz exposure on living objects. Conclusions: This review helps the biomedical optics community to summarize up-to-date knowledge in the area of cell exposure to THz radiation, and paves the ways for the development of THz safety standards and THz therapeutic applications.

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“…Within recent years, the use of non-ionizing Terahertz (THz) radiation has found wide applications in the investigation of biological matter 1 – 5 , e.g., via THz-spectroscopy of protein solutions 6 – 8 or THz-based imaging of soft tissue 9 , allowing, due to its sensitivity to the dielectric properties, e.g., non-invasive diagnostics and possible treatment of skin cancer 10 – 12 . Despite the widened use of THz-radiation, its biological effect is still a topic of recent research 3 , 5 , 12 – 14 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Probing the existence of non-thermal Terahertz radiation induced changes of the protein solution structure

Schroer

Schewa²,

Gruzinov

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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During the last decades discussions were taking place on the existence of global, non-thermal structural changes in biological macromolecules induced by Terahertz (THz) radiation. Despite numerous studies, a clear experimental proof of this effect for biological particles in solution is still missing. We developed a setup combining THz-irradiation with small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), which is a sensitive method for detecting the expected structural changes. We investigated in detail protein systems with different shape morphologies (bovine serum albumin, microtubules), which have been proposed to be susceptible to THz-radiation, under variable parameters (THz wavelength, THz power densities up to 6.8 mW/cm2, protein concentrations). None of the studied systems and conditions revealed structural changes detectable by SAXS suggesting that the expected non-thermal THz-induced effects do not lead to alterations of the overall structures, which are revealed by scattering from dissolved macromolecules. This leaves us with the conclusion that, if such effects are present, these are either local or outside of the spectrum and power range covered by the present study.

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Topology-Based Prediction of Pathway Dysregulation Induced by Intense Terahertz Pulses in Human Skin Tissue Models

Cited by 13 publications

References 21 publications

Terahertz radiation may not alter rat basophilic leukemia cell membrane permeability to propidium iodide

Terahertz radiation may not alter rat basophilic leukemia cell membrane permeability to propidium iodide

Cellular effects of terahertz waves

Probing the existence of non-thermal Terahertz radiation induced changes of the protein solution structure

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