Intracellular Free Calcium Concentration and Cisplatin Resistance in Human Lung Adenocarcinoma A549 Cells

Human lung adenocarcinoma A₅₄₉ cells sensitive and A₅₄₉/DDP cells resistantto Cis-dichlorodiammine platinumII] (cisplatin) exhibit differentintracellular free calcium and calcium fluorescence images labeled withFura-2/AM and Fluo-3/AM as judged by dual-excitation fluorescence assay,Miracal Imaging and Laser Scanning Confocal Microscopy (LSCM) of singlecells. The concentration of intracellular free calcium of the resistantA₅₄₉/DDP cells is one third that of the sensitive A₅₄₉ cells. The effluxof Rhodamine 123 in resistant A₅₄₉/DDP cells is faster than that insensitive A₅₄₉ cells. In addition, A₅₄₉/DDP cells have an increase ofPhosphatidylinositol 4-kinase (PtdIns 4-kinase) activity in the plasmamembrane. So it is tentatively suggested that the increase in PtIns4-kinase activity resulting from lower intracellular Ca²⁺concentration leads to an increase of its enzymaticproducts——PIP and PIP₂, which may stimulate the activity ofP-glycoprotein.