Comparison of surface plasmon resonance and quartz crystal microbalance in the study of whole blood and plasma coagulation

The coagulation of blood plasma and whole blood was studied with a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) based device and a quartz crystal microbalance instrument with energy dissipation detection (QCM-D). The SPR and QCM-D response signals were similar in shape but differing in time scales, reflecting differences in detection mechanisms. The QCM-D response time was longer than SPR, as a physical coupling of the sample to the substrate is required for molecules to be detected by the QCM-method. Change of sample properties within the evanescent field is sufficient for detection with SPR. Both the SPR signals and the QCM-D frequency and dissipation shifts showed dependency on concentrations of coagulation activator and sensitivity to heparin additions. The ratio of dissipation to frequency shifts, commonly considered to reflect viscoelastic properties of the sample, varied with the concentration of activator in blood plasma but not in whole blood. Additions of heparin to the thromboplastin activated whole blood sample, however, made the ratio variation reoccur. Implications of these observations for the understanding of the blood coagulation processes as well as the potential of the two methods in the clinic and in research are discussed.     

Quartz Crystal Microbalance with Dissipation Monitoring: Enabling Real-Time Characterization of Biological Materials and Their Interactions

In recent years, there has been a rapid growth in the number of scientific reports in which the quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) technique has played a key role in elucidating various aspects of biological materials and their interactions. This article illustrates some key advances in the development of a special variation of this technique called quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D). The main feature and advantage of QCM-D, compared with the conventional QCM, is that it in addition to measuring changes in resonant frequency (Δf), a simultaneous parameter related to the energy loss or dissipation (ΔD) of the system is also measured. Δf essentially measures changes in the mass attached to the sensor surface, while ΔD measures properties related to the viscoelastic properties of the adlayer. Thus, QCM-D measures two totally independent properties of the adlayer. The focus of this review is an overview of the QCM-D technology and highlights of recent applications. Specifically, recent applications dealing with DNA, proteins, lipids, and cells will be detailed. This is not intended as a comprehensive review of all possible applications of the QCM-D technology, but rather a glimpse into a few highlighted application areas in the biomolecular field that were published in 2007.     

Real-time QCM-D monitoring of cellular responses to different cytomorphic agents

Quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) is used for real-time in situ detection of cytoskeletal changes in live primary endothelial cells in response to different cytomorphic agents; namely, the surfactant Triton-X 100 (TX-100) and bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Reproducible dissipation versus frequency (Df) plots provide unique signatures of the interactions between endothelial cells and cytomorphic agents. While the QCM-D response for TX-100 can be described in two steps (changes in the osmotic pressure of the medium prior to observing the expected cell lysis), LPS results in a different single-phase signal. A complementary analysis is carried out to evaluate the possible competitive effects of TX-100 and LPS through the QCM-D response to BAEC stress by analyzing the Df plots obtained. Experiments with non-toxic components (fibronectin or serum) produce a different QCM-D response than that observed for the toxic chemicals, suggesting the use of Df plot signatures for the possible differentiation between cytotoxic or non-cytotoxic effects. Observations obtained by QCM-D signals are confirmed by conducting fluorescence microscopy at the same time. Our results show that a fast (few minutes) sensing response can be obtained in situ and in real-time. The conclusions from this study suggest that QCM-D can potentially be used in biodetection for applications in drug screening tests and diagnosis.     

Changes in ultrastructure and actomyosin complex of cardiomyocytes in experimental hypergravitation

There were studied the cardiomyocyte ultrastructure, contractile function, actomyosin complex composition and property of the rat ventricular myocardium after repeated gravitational overloading and following rest. In the hypergravitation period cardiomyocyte changes carry destructive character or are regenerative processes manifestation. They are comparable with myocardial contractile function state and with displacements in molecular structure of myofibrillar apparatus. At rest conditions the liquidation of cardiomyocytes destructive changes falls behind the normalization of contractile and regulatory cells of physico-chemical characteristics. The possible reasons of this phenomenon are discussed.     

A real-time QCM-D approach to monitoring mammalian DNA damage using DNA adsorbed to a polyelectrolyte surface

We have successfully demonstrated that the quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) can be used to monitor real-time damage to genomic mammalian DNA adsorbed to a polyelectrolyte surface. To reveal the capabilities of this technique, we exposed DNA surfaces to quercetin, an agent that has been implicated in causing DNA strand breaks in a Cu(II)-dependent fashion in vitro. We show that the QCM-D frequency and dissipation patterns that result from exposure of the DNA surfaces to quercetin-Cu(II) are consistent with the induction of DNA strand scission. We use QCM-D to furthermore demonstrate that this process is dependent on Cu(II) and that the DNA damage induced by quercetin can still be detected if Cu(II) is in situ with the DNA surface and not in solution phase.     

Enzymatic cross-linking of a phenolic polymer extracted from the marine alga Fucus serratus

We have shown that a phenolic polymer (PP) extracted from Fucus serratus can be cross-linked using a vanadium-dependent bromoperoxidase (BPO). The methanol extracted PP was adsorbed to a quartz crystal sensor and the cross-linking was initiated by the addition of BPO, KBr, and H2O2. The decreased dissipation upon addition of the cross-linking agents, as measured with the quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) method, was interpreted as intramolecular cross-links were formed between different phloroglucinol units in the PP. With surface plasmon resonance, it was shown that no desorption occurred from the sensor surface during the cross-linking. UV/vis spectroscopy verified the results achieved with QCM-D that all components, i.e., BPO, KBr, and H2O2, were necessary in order to achieve intramolecular oxidative cross-linking of the polymer.     

Cardiomyocyte sensor responsive to changes in physical and chemical environments

Conventional cardiac physiology experiments investigate in vitro beat frequency using cells isolated from adult or neonatal rat hearts. In this study, we show that various cantilever shapes and drug treatments alter cardiomyocyte contraction force in vitro. Four types of cantilevers were used to compare the contractile forces: flat, peg patterned, grooved, and peg and grooved. Contraction force was represented as bending deflection of the cantilever end. The deflections of the flat, peg patterned, grooved, and peg and grooved cantilevers were 24.2 nN, 41.6 nN, 121 nN, and 134.2 nN, respectively. We quantified the effect of drug treatments on cardiomyocyte contractile forces on the grooved cantilever using Digoxin, Isoproterenol, and BayK8644, all of which increase contractile force, and Verapamil, which decreases contractile force. The cardiomyocyte contractile force without drugs decreased 8 days after culture initiation. Thus, we applied Digoxin, Isoproterenol, and BayK8644 at day 8, and Verapamil at day 5. Digoxin, Isoproterenol, and BayK8644 increased the cardiomyocyte contractile forces by 19.31%, 9.75%, and 23.81%, respectively. Verapamil decreased the contraction force by 48.06%. In summary, contraction force changes in response to adhesion surface topology and various types of drug treatments. We observed these changes by monitoring cell alignment, adhesion, morphology, and bending displacement with cantilever sensors.     

海葵毒素对心肌钠通道开放模式，动作电位及心电图QT周期的影响

应用膜片箝技术记录游离豚鼠心肌细胞的钠通道电流,细胞内微电极技术记录心室乳头肌的动作电位和心电图机记录豚鼠的心电图,使用与心肌;细胞钠通道有高度亲和力的海葵毒素（sea anemone toxin,ATXⅡ）改变钠通道开放的动力过程,从三个水平来研究钠通道,动作电位,心电图变化的关系,并试图探讨长QT综合征（long QT syndrome,LQTs)的发病机制,结果显示,ATXⅡ使钠通道的开放频率增加,钠通道中“长时间开放模式”的开放时间常数增大,动人电位的持续时间APD50和APD50也分别增加了23％和27％,ATXⅡ使动物心电图QT间期延长18．6％,QTc(校正的QT间期）增大18．9％,这些结果提示,钠通道动力过程的变化对动作电位和心电图QT间期有重要影响,钠通道功能或结构的变异可能是临床上部分长QT综合征产生的原因。     

Quartz crystal microbalance studies of multilayer glucagon fibrillation at the solid-liquid interface

We have used a quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D) to monitor the changes in layer thickness and viscoelastic properties accompanying multilayer amyloid deposition in situ for the first time. By means of atomic force microscope imaging, an unequivocal correlation is established between the interfacial nucleation and growth of glucagon fibrils and the QCM-D response. The combination of the two techniques allows us to study the temporal evolution of the interfacial fibrillation process. We have modeled the QCM-D data using an extension to the Kelvin-Voigt viscoelastic model. Three phases were observed in the fibrillation process: 1), a rigid multilayer of glucagon monomers forms and slowly rearranges; 2), this multilayer subsequently evolves into a dramatically more viscoelastic layer, containing a polymorphic network of micrometer-long fibrils growing from multiple nucleation sites; and 3), the fibrillar formation effectively stops as a result of the depletion of bulk-phase monomers, although the process can be continued without a lag phase by subsequent addition of fresh monomers. The robustness of the QCM-D technique, consolidated by complementary atomic force microscope studies, should make it possible to combine different components thought to be involved in the plaque formation process and thus build up realistic models of amyloid plaque formation in vitro.     

Characterization of mechanical behavior of an epithelial monolayer in response to epidermal growth factor stimulation

Cell signaling often causes changes in cellular mechanical properties. Knowledge of such changes can ultimately lead to insight into the complex network of cell signaling. In the current study, we employed a combination of atomic force microscopy (AFM) and quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) to characterize the mechanical behavior of A431 cells in response to epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling. From AFM, which probes the upper portion of an individual cell in a monolayer of cells, we observed increases in energy dissipation, Young's modulus, and hysteresivity. Increases in hysteresivity imply a shift toward a more fluid-like mechanical ordering state in the bodies of the cells. From QCM-D, which probes the basal area of the monolayer of cells collectively, we observed decreases in energy dissipation factor. This result suggests a shift toward a more solid-like state in the basal areas of the cells. The comparative analysis of these results indicates a regionally specific mechanical behavior of the cell in response to EGFR signaling and suggests a correlation between the time-dependent mechanical responses and the dynamic process of EGFR signaling. This study also demonstrates that a combination of AFM and QCM-D is able to provide a more complete and refined mechanical profile of the cells during cell signaling.     

Methods of assessment and clinical relevance of QT dynamics

The dependence on heart rate of the QT interval has been investigated for many years and several mathematical formulae have been proposed to describe the QT interval/heart rate (or QT interval/RR interval) relationship. While the most popular is Bazett's formula, it overcorrects the QT interval at high heart rates and under-corrects it at slow heart rates. This formulae and many others similar ones, do not accurately describe the natural behaviour of the QT interval. The QT interval/RR interval relationship is generally described as QT dynamics. In recent years, several methods of its assessment have been proposed, the most popular of which is linear regression. An increased steepness of the linear QT/RR slope correlates with the risk of arrhythmic death following myocardial infarction. It has also been demonstrated that the QT interval adapts to heart rate changes with a delay (QT hysteresis) and that QT dynamics parameters vary over time. New methods of QT dynamics assessment that take into account these phenomena have been proposed. Using these methods, changes in QT dynamics have been observed in patients with advanced heart failure, and during morning hours in patients with ischemic heart disease and history of cardiac arrest. The assessment of QT dynamics is a new and promising tool for identifying patients at increased risk of arrhythmic events and for studying the effect of drugs on ventricular repolarisation.     

海葵毒素对心肌钠通道开放模式、动作电位及心电图QT间期的影响

应用膜片箝技术记录游离豚鼠心肌细胞钠通道电流, 细胞内微电极技术记录心室乳头肌的动作电位和心电图机记录豚鼠的心电图。使用与心肌细胞钠通道有高度亲和力的海葵毒素(sea anemone toxin, ATXⅡ)改变钠通道开放的动力过程, 从三个水平来研究钠通道、动作电位、心电图变化的关系, 并试图探讨长QT综合征(long QT syndrome, LQTs)的发病机制。结果显示: ATXⅡ使钠通道的开放频率增加, 钠通道中“长时间开放模式”的开放时间常数增大, 动作电位的持续时间APD50和APD90也分别增加了23%和27%。 ATXⅡ使动物心电图QT间期延长18.6%, QTc (校正的QT间期)增大18.9%。这些结果提示, 钠通道动力过程的变化对动作电位和心电图QT间期有重要影响, 钠通道功能或结构的变异可能是临床上部分长QT综合征产生的原因。     

Age and anesthetic effects on murine electrocardiography

Murine models offer potential insights regarding human cardiac disease, but efficient and reliable methods for phenotype evaluation are necessary. We employed non-invasive electrocardiography (ECG) in mice, investigating statistical reliability of these parameters with respect to anesthetic and animal age. Mice (C57BL/6, 8 or 48 weeks) were anesthetized by ketamine/xylazine (K/X, 80/10 mg/kg ip) or by inhalation anesthetic (halothane, HAL; sevoflurane, SEV) and 6 lead ECGs were recorded. P wave duration and QT interval was significantly prolonged with K/X compared to HAL and SEV, indicating slowed atrial and ventricular conduction. P-R interval (atrio-ventricular conduction) was significantly increased in aged mice under all anesthetics. Heart rate was inversely correlated to QT interval and P wave duration. We also detected significant age effects with respect to optimal approaches for QT interval corrections. Power analysis showed 4-fold higher number of mice/group, were required for K/X, to achieve identical statistical sensitivity. These data demonstrate the importance of anesthetic selection for relevant and reliable ECG analysis in mice and illustrate the selective influences of anesthetics and age on cardiac conductance in this species.     

Quartz crystal microbalance-with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) for real time measurements of blood coagulation density and immune complement activation on artificial surfaces

A recently developed variant of quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) called QCM-with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) allows simultaneous and simple measurements of changes in adsorbed mass as well as the viscoelastic property (D-factor) of deposited protein layers on the sensor surface. We have taken the QCM-D technology a step further and demonstrated its advantages in the study of protein assembly as a consequence of surface induced immune complement activation, or contact activated blood coagulation. In the present study we have continued our QCM-D investigations of surface assembly of fibrin clot formation and complement activation and incubated differently modified quartz sensor surfaces in blood plasma and sera. Polymer surfaces used were spin-coated polyethylene, poly(ethylene terephtalate), poly(methylmetacrylate) and poly(dimethylsiloxane). Also used were sputtered titanium and heparin grafted surfaces. In this investigation we found that we could describe the surface induced coagulation with four independent parameters: (1) Time of onset of coagulation, (2) fibrin deposition rate, (3) total frequency shift at stable plateau, and (4) fibrin clot density. The most important finding was that the blood plasma clot density can be assessed with the use of D determinations and that the clot density varied significantly with the chemical composition of the surface. However, the D-factor did not give any new analytical information about the possible complement activation mechanisms. Nevertheless, the QCM-D was found to be a reliable tool for the analysis of surface induced complement activation. We also compared the QCM-D technique with traditional enzyme immuno assay (EIA) measurements of soluble products from the surface activation of the complement and coagulation systems. We found that the results from EIA and QCM-D measurements corresponded well for the complement activation but not for the coagulation, probably due to the biological complexity of the coagulation system.     

Circulating Pneumolysin Is a Potent Inducer of Cardiac Injury during Pneumococcal Infection

Streptococcus pneumoniae accounts for more deaths worldwide than any other single pathogen through diverse disease manifestations including pneumonia, sepsis and meningitis. Life-threatening acute cardiac complications are more common in pneumococcal infection compared to other bacterial infections. Distinctively, these arise despite effective antibiotic therapy. Here, we describe a novel mechanism of myocardial injury, which is triggered and sustained by circulating pneumolysin (PLY). Using a mouse model of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD), we demonstrate that wild type PLY-expressing pneumococci but not PLY-deficient mutants induced elevation of circulating cardiac troponins (cTns), well-recognized biomarkers of cardiac injury. Furthermore, elevated cTn levels linearly correlated with pneumococcal blood counts (r=0.688, p=0.001) and levels were significantly higher in non-surviving than in surviving mice. These cTn levels were significantly reduced by administration of PLY-sequestering liposomes. Intravenous injection of purified PLY, but not a non-pore forming mutant (PdB), induced substantial increase in cardiac troponins to suggest that the pore-forming activity of circulating PLY is essential for myocardial injury in vivo. Purified PLY and PLY-expressing pneumococci also caused myocardial inflammatory changes but apoptosis was not detected. Exposure of cultured cardiomyocytes to PLY-expressing pneumococci caused dose-dependent cardiomyocyte contractile dysfunction and death, which was exacerbated by further PLY release following antibiotic treatment. We found that high PLY doses induced extensive cardiomyocyte lysis, but more interestingly, sub-lytic PLY concentrations triggered profound calcium influx and overload with subsequent membrane depolarization and progressive reduction in intracellular calcium transient amplitude, a key determinant of contractile force. This was coupled to activation of signalling pathways commonly associated with cardiac dysfunction in clinical and experimental sepsis and ultimately resulted in depressed cardiomyocyte contractile performance along with rhythm disturbance. Our study proposes a detailed molecular mechanism of pneumococcal toxin-induced cardiac injury and highlights the major translational potential of targeting circulating PLY to protect against cardiac complications during pneumococcal infections.     

Ultrathin chitin films for nanocomposites and biosensors

Chitin is the second most abundant biopolymer and insight into its natural synthesis, enzymatic degradation, and chemical interactions with other biopolymers is important for bioengineering with this renewable resource. This work is the first report of smooth, homogeneous, ultrathin chitin films, opening the door to surface studies of binding interactions, adsorption kinetics, and enzymatic degradation. The chitin films were formed by spincoating trimethylsilyl chitin onto gold or silica substrates, followed by regeneration to a chitin film. Infrared and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, ellipsometry, and atomic force microscopy were used to confirm the formation of smooth, homogeneous, and amorphous chitin thin films. Quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) solvent exchange experiments showed these films swelled with 49% water by mass. The utility of these chitin films as biosensors was evident from QCM-D and surface plasmon resonance studies that revealed the adsorption of a bovine serum albumin monolayer.     

Dissipation monitoring for assessing EGF-induced changes of cell adhesion

Epidermal growth factor (EGF)-induced cell de-adhesion has been implicated as a critical step of normal embryonic development, wound repair, inflammatory response, and tumor cell metastasis. Like many other cellular processes, this cell de-adhesion exhibits a complex, time-dependent pattern. A comprehensive understanding of this process requires a quantitative, real-time assessment of cell-substrate interactions at the molecular level. We employed the quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) to successfully track the EGF-induced changes in energy dissipation factor, ΔD, of a monolayer of MCF10A cells in real time. This time-dependent ΔD response correlates well both qualitatively and quantitatively with sequential events of a rapid disassembly, transition, and slow reassembly of focal adhesions of the cells in response to EGF exposure. Based on this strong correlation, we utilized the QCM-D to demonstrate that this dynamic focal-adhesion restructuring is regulated temporally by the downstream pathways of EGFR signaling such as the PI3K, MAPK/ERK, and PLC pathways. Because the QCM-D is a noninvasive technique, this novel approach potentially has a broad range of applications in the fundamental study of cellular processes, such as cell signaling and trafficking and mechanotransduction, and holds promise for drug and biomarker screening.     

Activity of the genome of cardiomyocytes as an indicator of the development of adaptive changes in the myocardium following exposure of the central nervous system to electromagnetic fields

Methods of cardiomyocyte nuclei isolation from the myocard homogeneous mixture, and of cardiomyocyte genome activity estimation were elaborated. In the experiments with hyperlipoproteidemic rats, cardiomyocyte genome activity was shown to reflect the primary adaptive changes in the myocard, and to serve a reliable index of their influence on the CNS regulatory centres exposed to electromagnetic field, which is used for hyperlipoproteidemia treatment. The cardiomyocyte genome activity was used to distinguish between three types of development of adaptive reactions in the myocard.     

Antibody-antigenic peptide interactions monitored by SPR and QCM-D. A model for SPR detection of IA-2 autoantibodies in human serum

This work reports on a complementary use of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) technologies to study interactions between a peptide antigen and polyclonal antibodies, in an experimental format suitable for diagnostic assays of autoimmune diseases. In the chosen model, a synthetic peptide from the juxtamembrane region of IA-2 (a type 1 diabetes associated antigen) was immobilized by an optimized chemical protocol applicable to both BIACORE and QCM-D sensors. A thorough study of the peptide immobilization was performed to optimize the signal-to-noise ratio using mixed self-assembled monolayers (SAM) on a gold surface. Introduction of polyethylene glycol (EG₆) chains into mixed SAM layers and addition of an anionic surfactant to the human serum reduced non-specific binding without modifying the viscoelasticity properties of the layer. Under our conditions, the antibody SPR detection limit was determined to be 0.2 nM in diluted human serum. This value is in agreement with the reported rank distribution of IA-2 antibodies in diabetic patient sera. Label-free and real-time technologies such as SPR and/or QCM-D could be precious tools in future diagnostic assays.