ETM study of electroporation influence on cell morphology in human malignant melanoma and human primary gingival fibroblast cells

ABSTRACT

Objective:To estimate electroporation (EP) influence on malignant and normal cells.Methods:Two cell lines including human malignant melanoma (Me-45) and normal human gingival fibroblast (HGFs) were used. EP parameters were the following250,1000,1750,2500 V/cm;50 μs by5 impulses for every case. The viability of cells after EP was estimated byMTT assay. The ultrastructural analysis was observed by transmission electron microscope (ZeissEM900). Results:In the current study we observed the intracellular effect followingEP on Me-45 and HGF cells. At the conditions applied, we did not observe any significant damage of mitochondrial activity in both cell lines treated byEP. Conversely, we showed thatEP in some conditions can stimulate cells to proliferation. Some changes induced byEP were only visible in electron microscopy. In fibroblast cells we observed significant changes in lower parameters ofEP (250 and1000 V/cm). After applying higher electric field intensities (2500 V/cm) we detected many vacuoles, myelin-like bodies and swallowed endoplasmic reticulum. In melanoma cells such strong pathological modifications afterEP were not observed, in comparison with control cells. The ultrastructure of both treated cell lines was changed according to the applied parameters ofEP.Conclusions:We can claim thatEP conditions are cell line dependent. In terms of the intracellular morphology, human fibroblasts are more sensitive to electric field as compared with melanoma cells. Optimal conditions should be determined for each cell line. Summarizing our study, we can conclude thatEP is not an invasive method for human normal and malignant cells. This technique can be safely applied in chemotherapy for delivering drugs into tumor cells.