A Highly Thermosensitive and Permeable Mutant of the Marine Yeast Cryptococcus aureus G7a Potentially Useful for Single-Cell Protein Production and its Nutritive Components

The highly thermosensitive and permeable mutants are the mutants from which intracellular contents including proteins can be released when they are incubated both in the low osmolarity water and at the nonpermissive temperature (usually 37 degrees C). After mutagenesis by using nitrosoguanidine, a highly thermosensitive and permeable mutant named Z114 was obtained from the marine yeast Cryptococcus aureus G7a. Of the total protein, 65.3% was released from the mutant cells suspended in distilled water after they were treated at 37 degrees C overnight. However, only 12.3% of the total protein was released from the mutant cells suspended in 1.0 M sorbitol solution after they were treated at 37 degrees C overnight. We found that intracellular density of the mutant treated at 37 degrees C was greatly decreased, and cell volume of the mutant treated at 37 degrees C was increased due to the increased protein release. However, no significant changes in the intracellular density and cell volume of the mutant were observed when its cells suspended in 1.0 M sorbitol solution were treated at 37 degrees C. It was found that no big changes in cell growth, protein content, vitamin C content, nucleic acid content, fatty acids, and amino acid compositions of both the mutant and its wild type were detected. Therefore, the highly thermosensitive and permeable mutant still can be a good candidate as single-cell protein. This means that the method used in this study is a simple and efficient way to release protein from the highly thermosensitive and permeable yeast mutant cells with high protein content.     

Determination of cell electroporation from the release of intracellular potassium ions

When cells are exposed to a strong enough external electric field, transient aqueous pores are formed in the membrane. The fraction of electroporated cells can be determined by measuring the release of intracellular potassium ions. The current work is the first study where such a method was employed successfully not only with cells suspended in the medium with a rather high concentration of potassium (4-5 mM) but also with cells that release some part of intracellular potassium responding, in this way, to the stress caused by manipulation procedures during the preparation of the cell suspension. Experiments were carried out on mouse hepatoma MH-A22 cells exposed to a square-wave electric pulse. The curves showing the dependence of the fraction of the cells that have become permeable to bleomycin, a membrane-impermeable cytotoxic drug, are close to the ones showing the release of intracellular potassium ions.     

Highly permeable intercellular junctions in normal and transformed fibroblast cultures]

Intercellular junctions permeable to ions and fluorescein Na were studied with the aid of intracellular microelectrodes in the cultures of normal and transformed mouse-embryo and hamster-embryo fibroblast-like cells. Normal cells were effectively coupled by the highly permeable junctions. In cultures of 7 types of transformed cells, 3 types of coupling were detected: effective, decreased, and fully reduced couplings. The degree of uncoupling was not correlated with morphological patterns of malignization and tumorogeneity of transformed cultures. The decrease of permeability of intercellular junctions to ions and small molecules is concluded not to be necessary for malignization.     

Role of cell calcium in alpha-1 adrenergic receptor control of arachidonic acid release from brown adipocytes

Exposure of brown fat cells to phenylephrine, an agonist of alpha-1 adrenergic receptors, activates a phospholipase A2 which releases arachidonic acid. Since receptor activation of phospholipase A2 requires calcium, experiments were undertaken to define more precisely the role played by calcium in the regulation of enzyme activity. In this study, adipocytes were loaded with the fluorescent calcium chelator quin2 in order to buffer intracellular calcium and block receptor stimulated changes in its concentration. When quin2 loaded adipocytes were incubated in buffer containing 0.10 mM calcium, the ability of phenylephrine to stimulate release of arachidonic acid was severely reduced. At an intracellular quin2 concentration of 6.6 mM stimulated arachidonic acid release was inhibited by more than 50% and at 13 mM it was completely blocked. In contrast, phenylephrine stimulation of inositol phosphate accumulation was unaffected by quin2. Quin2 also did not affect the liberation of arachidonic acid in response to exogenous phospholipase C, A23187 or forskolin. The intracellular calcium antagonist TMB-8 also inhibited phenylephrine-stimulation of arachidonic acid release and this effect was reversed by ionomycin. Basal phospholipase A2 activity was increased by introduction of high calcium concentrations into cells rendered permeable with digitonin, but phenylephrine still caused a further increase in enzyme activity. These findings show a selective inhibition of phenylephrine activation of phospholipase A2 by either the chelation of intracellular calcium with quin2 or by the calcium antagonist TMB-8 and suggest an essential role for intracellular calcium in alpha adrenergic stimulation of enzyme activity. However, because phenylephrine still stimulates enzyme activity in cells rendered permeable with digitonin, we suggest that the action of phenylephrine cannot be attributed solely to changes in intracellular calcium.     

Cell volume regulation in Mycoplasma gallisepticum.

Mycoplasma gallisepticum cells incubated in 250 mM NaCl solutions in the absence of glucose showed a progressive fall in intracellular ATP concentration over a period of 2 to 3 h. When the ATP level fell below 40 microM the cell began to swell and become progressively permeable to [14C]inulin and leak intracellular protein and nucleotides. The addition of nondiffusable substances such as MgSO4 or disaccharides prevented swelling, suggesting that NaCl (and water) entry was due to Gibbs-Donnan forces. The addition of glucose after the initiation of cell swelling increased intracellular ATP, induced cell shrinkage, and prevented the release of intracellular components. The ATPase inhibitor dicyclohexylcarbodiimide, which collapsed the chemical and electrical components of the proton motive force, caused rapid cell swelling in the presence of glucose (and high intracellular ATP levels). Extracellular impermeable solutes such as MgSO4 and disaccharides prevented swelling of dicyclohexylcarbodiimide-treated cells incubated in NaCl. It was postulated that Na+ that diffused into the cell was extruded by an electrogenic Na+-H+ exchange (antiport) energized by the proton motive force established by the dicyclohexylcarbodiimide-sensitive H+-ATPase.     

An optimum method for the introduction or removal of permeable cryoprotectants: Isolated cells

On the basis of a nonequilibrium model for the transport of water and permeable solute across cell membranes, an optimum method has been devised for the introduction and the removal of a permeable cryoprotectant from single, isolated cells so that potentially lethal drastic alterations in cellular volume are minimized. The method involves the simultaneous variation of both the permeable (an initial step change, followed by a linear variation with time which overshoots the terminal value, and a final step change to the terminal value) and impermeable (an initial step change in the opposite direction of the permeable solute concentration change, followed by a period where the concentration remains constant, and a final step change back to the initial value) extracellular solute concentrations in a prescribed manner such that both the cellular water content and the intracellular electrolyte concentration remain constant as the intracellular permeable solute (CPA) concentration is either raised or lowered. The results of our theoretical analysis indicate that the osmotic stresses and strains usually imposed upon cells during the introduction and the removal of permeable cryoprotectants can be minimized and that the resulting protocols are clinically the most efficient.     

Fluorescence measurement of chloride transport in monolayer cultured cells. Mechanisms of chloride transport in fibroblasts.

The methodology has been developed to measure Cl activity and transport in cultured cells grown on a monolayer using the entrapped Cl-sensitive fluorophore 6-methoxy-N-[3-sulfopropyl] quinolinium (SPQ). The method was applied to a renal epithelial cell line, LLC-PKI, and a nonepithelial cell line, Swiss 3T3 fibroblasts. SPQ was nontoxic to cells when present for greater than h in the culture media. To load with SPQ (5 mM), cells were made transiently permeable by exposure to hypotonic buffer (150 mOsm, 4 min). Intracellular fluorescence was monitored continuously by epifluorescence microscopy using low illumination intensity at 360 +/- 5 nm excitation wavelength and photomultiplier detection at greater than 410 nm. Over 60 min at 37 degrees C, there was no photobleaching and less than 10% leakage of SPQ out of cells; intracellular SPQ fluorescence was uniform. SPQ fluorescence was calibrated against intracellular [Cl] using high K solutions containing the ionophores nigericin and tributyltin. The Stern-Volmer constant (Kq) for quenching of intracellular SPQ by Cl was 13 M-1 for fibroblasts and LLC-PKl cells. In the absence of Cl, SPQ lifetime was 26 ns in aqueous solution and 3.7 +/- 0.6 ns in cells, showing that the lower Kq in cells than in free solution (Kq = 118 M-1) was due to SPQ quenching by intracellular anions. To examine Cl transport mechanisms, the time course of intracellular [Cl] was measured in response to rapid Cl addition and removal in the presence of ion or pH gradients. In fibroblasts, three distinct Cl transporting systems were identified: a stilbeneinhibitable Cl/HCO3 exchanger, a furosemide-sensitive Na/K/2Cl cotransporter, and a Ca-regulated Cl conductance. These results establish a direct optical method to measure intracellular [Cl] continuously in cultured cells.     

Measurement of the size of intracellular ice crystals in mouse oocytes using a melting point depression method and the influence of intracellular solute concentrations

Characterization of intracellular ice formed during the cooling procedures of cells significantly benefits the development and optimization design of cryopreservation or cryosurgery techniques. In this study, we investigated the influence of the concentration of extracellular non-permeable and permeable solutes on the melting points of the intracellular ice in mouse oocytes using cryomicroscopy. The results showed that the melting points of the intracellular ice are always lower than the extracellular ice. Based on this observation and the Gibbs–Thomson relation, we established a physical model to calculate the size of intracellular ice crystals and described its relationship with the concentrations of intracellular permeating solutes and macromolecules. This model predicts that the increased concentration of macromolecules in cells, by increasing the extracellular non-permeating solute concentration, can significantly lower the required concentration of permeable solutes for intracellular vitrification. The prediction was tested through the cryomicroscopic observation of the co-existence of intracellular vitrification and extracellular crystallization during cooling at 100 °C/min when the extracellular solutions contain 5 molal (m) ethylene glycol and 0.3 to 0.6 m NaCl.     

Measurement of the size of intracellular ice crystals in mouse oocytes using a melting point depression method and the influence of intracellular solute concentrations

Characterization of intracellular ice formed during the cooling procedures of cells significantly benefits the development and optimization design of cryopreservation or cryosurgery techniques. In this study, we investigated the influence of the concentration of extracellular non-permeable and permeable solutes on the melting points of the intracellular ice in mouse oocytes using cryomicroscopy. The results showed that the melting points of the intracellular ice are always lower than the extracellular ice. Based on this observation and the Gibbs–Thomson relation, we established a physical model to calculate the size of intracellular ice crystals and described its relationship with the concentrations of intracellular permeating solutes and macromolecules. This model predicts that the increased concentration of macromolecules in cells, by increasing the extracellular non-permeating solute concentration, can significantly lower the required concentration of permeable solutes for intracellular vitrification. The prediction was tested through the cryomicroscopic observation of the co-existence of intracellular vitrification and extracellular crystallization during cooling at 100 °C/min when the extracellular solutions contain 5 molal (m) ethylene glycol and 0.3 to 0.6 m NaCl.     

Permeabilization of yeast cells: Application to study on the regulation of AMP deaminase activity in situ

A permeabilization method which allows the assay of several intracellular enzymes within the boundaries of the yeast cell wall is described. Toluene treatment was found to make yeast cells completely permeable to exogenous substrates, and intracellular enzymes did not leak out of the treated cells. This method was also compared with the permeabilization techniques reported previously. Electron microscopic examination of toluene-treated cells indicated that they were essentially intact. The kinetic properties of AMP deaminase, examined in the permeabilized cells, including allosteric regulation by polyamine and Zn²⁺, suggest some differences in protein interactions for AMP deaminase in situ and in vitro.     

Control of exocytosis from adrenal chromaffin cells

1. Calcium-dependent exocytosis of catecholamines from intact and digitonin-permeabilized bovine adrenal chromaffin cells was investigated. 2. 45Ca2+ uptake and secretion induced by nicotinic stimulation or depolarization in intact cells were closely correlated. The results provide strong support for Ca2+ entry being the trigger for exocytosis. 3. Experiments in which the H+ electrochemical gradient across the intracellular secretory granule (chromaffin granule) membrane was altered indicated that the gradient does not play an important role in exocytosis. 4. Ca2+ entry into the cells is associated with activation of phospholiphase C and a rapid translocation of protein kinase C to membranes. 5. The plasma membrane of chromaffin cells was rendered permeable to Ca2+, ATP, and proteins by the detergent digitonin without disruption of the intracellular secretory granules. In this system in which the intracellular milieu can be controlled, micromolar Ca2+ directly stimulated catecholamine secretion. 6. Treatment of the cells with phorbol esters and diglyceride, which activate protein kinase C, enhanced phosphorylation and subsequent Ca2+-dependent secretion in digitonin-treated cells. 7. Phorbol ester-induced secretion could be specifically inhibited by trypsin. The experiments indicate that protein kinase C modulates but is not necessary for Ca2+-dependent secretion.     

Infection of Actinomycin-Permeable Mutants of Escherichia coli with Urea-Disrupted Bacteriophage

Intact cells of actinomycin-permeable mutants of Escherichia coli could be infected with urea-disrupted phage T4 (designated as T4pi). The parental strains and the revertants, which are impermeable to actinomycin, were not susceptible to T4pi unless they had been treated with agents which altered their permeability. The permeable mutants developed competence for pi infection during the growth cycle; cells in the early stationary phase produced 10- to 100-fold more plaques on plating with T4pi than did exponentially growing cells. Colistin (polymyxin E) was effective in converting noncompetent cells of either permeable or nonpermeable strains to the competent state. Treatment with lysozyme resulted in a considerable increase in susceptibility to T4pi of permeable mutants but not of nonpermeable cells. It appears that development of competence for pi infection is mainly due to alterations in the permeability barriers of the cell.     

Synthesis of doxorubicin-peptide conjugate with multidrug resistant tumor cell killing activity

Cell penetrating peptide TAT was introduced into doxorubicin structure. Synthesized doxorubicin-TAT conjugate showed different intracellular distribution pattern and cell killing activity from those of free doxorubicin. Unlike free doxorubicin, doxorubicin-TAT conjugate was highly permeable to drug-resistant cells and was able to kill drug-resistant tumor cells efficiently.     

Single cell protein production from yacon extract using a highly thermosensitive and permeable mutant of the marine yeast Cryptococcus aureus G7a and its nutritive analysis

The intracellular protein in the highly thermosensitive and permeable mutant can be easily released when they are incubated both in the low-osmolarity water and at the non-permissive temperature (usually 37 °C). After the mutant was grown in the yacon extract for 45 h, the crude protein content in the highly thermosensitive and permeable mutant Z114 was 59.1% and over 61% of the total protein could be released from the cells treated at 37 °C. The mutant cells grown in the yacon extract still contained high level of essential amino acids and other nutrients. This means that the yacon extract could be used as the medium for growth of the highly thermosensitive and permeable mutant which contained high content of crude protein.     

INTERCELLULAR COMMUNICATION AND TISSUE GROWTH : III. Thyroid Cancer

Intercellular communication was examined in normal and cancerous isolated thyroids with an intracellular electrical technique. The cells of normal thyroid (rat, mouse, hamster, man) communicate, within any given follicle, through permeable junctions. The cells of a wide variety of thyroid cancers (rat, hamster) do not communicate to any detectable degree and have resting membrane potentials lower than those of normal cells.     

Trout gill cells in primary culture on solid and permeable supports.

Trout gill cells in primary culture on solid and permeable supports were compared. Cultures were carried out by directly seeding cells on each support after gill dissociation. Most of the cell types present in culture were similar, regardless of culture support (pavement cells, mucous cells (3-4%), but no mitochondria-rich cells). However, insertion of mucous cells in cultured epithelium on permeable support presented a morphology more similar to gills in situ. Gene expression of ion transporters and hormonal receptors indicated similar mRNA levels in both systems. Cortisol inhibited cell proliferation on both supports and maintained or increased the total cell number on solid and permeable membranes, respectively. This inhibition of mitosis associated with an increase or maintenance of total gill cells suggests that cortisol reduced cell degeneration. In the presence of cortisol, transepithelial resistance of cultured gill cells on permeable membranes was increased and maintained for a longer time in culture. In conclusion, gill cells in primary culture on permeable support present: (i) a morphology more similar to epithelium in situ; and (ii) specific responses to cortisol treatment. New findings and differences with previous studies on primary cultures of trout gill cells on permeable membrane are discussed.     

Single and three-color flow cytometry assay for intracellular zinc ion availability in human lymphocytes with Zinpyr-1 and double immunofluorescence: relationship with metallothioneins.

BACKGROUND:: The amount of available intracellular zinc is pivotal to regulate many cellular processes, including oxidative stress response and apoptotic mechanisms. Therefore it is not surprising that zinc homeostasis and dyshomeostasis is involved in many physiological and pathological states, respectively. Cell permeable zinc probes allow intracellular applications with microscopy technology, but flow cytometry (FC) applications have been scarcely explored, albeit they can be suited to study zinc homeostasis in different cell types, including rare cells. METHODS:: We describe a FC method able to estimate intracellular zinc ion availability and the intracellular capability to activate a zinc signal after treatment with an NO-donor (AcOM-DEA/NO) in human PBMCs, using the fluorescent zinc-specific probe, Zinpyr-1 (ZP1), alone or in association with CD4-PE and CD8-Cychrome mAb. RESULTS:: This method was able to detect an increase/decrease of intracellular zinc available in human fresh cultured PBMC and in immune subsets using AcOM-DEA/NO or TPEN, respectively. ZP1 mean fluorescence on gated histograms was sensitive to the amount of zinc added in the culture medium and significantly correlated to metallothioneins and total intracellular zinc. CONCLUSIONS:: FC applications using ZP1 may be a fast and useful tool to study zinc homeostasis in immune cells.     

Development of a new primary fixative for electron microscopic immunocytochemical localization of intracellular antigens in cultured cells.

We have developed a new primary fixative that permits the localization of intracellular antigens with well preserved ultrastructural morphology. This primary fixation method employs a mixture of a water soluble carbodiimide with glutaraldehyde, and preserves morphology, yet produces a permeable cytosol matrix so that antibodies can gain access to fixed proteins. Cultured cells were primarily fixed, treated with detergent to permeabilize their membranes, reacted with peroxidase labeled antibodies, secondarily fixed, and embedded in situ. The variations in morphology and accessibility of intracellular antigens were evaluated for a variety of fixatives. Concanavalin A and alpha 2 macroglobulin were chosen as examples of intracellular protein antigens to evaluate these fixation methods. Both of the proteins were localized in intracellular vesicles.