Search Results
Application of scanning electrochemical microscopy for topography imaging of supported lipid bilayers
2022, Nasri, Zahra, Memari, Seyedali, Striesow, Johanna, Weltmann, Klaus-Dieter, von Woedtke, Thomas, Wende, Kristian
Oxidative stress in cellular environments may cause lipid oxidation and membrane degradation. Therefore, studying the degree of lipid membrane morphological changes by reactive oxygen and nitrogen species will be informative in oxidative stress-based therapies. This study introduces the possibility of using scanning electrochemical microscopy as a powerful imaging technique to follow the topographical changes of a solid-supported lipid bilayer model induced by reactive species produced from gas plasma. The introduced strategy is not limited to investigating the effect of reactive species on the lipid bilayer but could be extended to understand the morphological changes of the lipid bilayer due to the action of membrane proteins or antimicrobial peptides.
Self-assembled mono- and bilayers on gold electrodes to assess antioxidants—a comparative study
2020, Ravandeh, Mehdi, Thal, Dana, Kahlert, Heike, Wende, Kristian, Lalk, Michael
Oxidative stress is considered as an imbalance of reactive species over antioxidants, leading to diseases and cell death. Various methods have been developed to determine the antioxidant potential of natural or synthetic compounds based on the ability to scavenge free radicals. However, most of them lack biological relevance. Here, a gold-based self-assembled monolayer (SAM) was compared with a gold-supported lipid bilayer as models for the mammalian cell membrane to evaluate the free radical scavenging activity of different antioxidants. The oxidative damage induced by reactive species was verified by cyclic and differential pulse voltammetry and measured by the increase of electrochemical peak current of a redox probe. Trolox, caffeic acid (CA), epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), ascorbic acid (AA), and ferulic acid (FA) were used as model antioxidants. The change in the decrease of the electrochemical signal reflecting oxidative membrane damage confirms the expected protective role. Both model systems showed similar efficacies of each antioxidant, the achieved order of radical scavenging potential is as follows: Trolox > CA > EGCG > AA > FA. The results showed that the electrochemical assay with SAM-modified electrodes is a stable and powerful tool to estimate qualitatively the antioxidative activity of a compound with respect to cell membrane protection against biologically relevant reactive species. © 2020, The Author(s).
Insight into the Impact of Oxidative Stress on the Barrier Properties of Lipid Bilayer Models
2022, Nasri, Zahra, Ahmadi, Mohsen, Striesow, Johanna, Ravandeh, Mehdi, von Woedtke, Thomas, Wende, Kristian
As a new field of oxidative stress-based therapy, cold physical plasma is a promising tool for several biomedical applications due to its potential to create a broad diversity of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS). Although proposed, the impact of plasma-derived RONS on the cell membrane lipids and properties is not fully understood. For this purpose, the changes in the lipid bilayer functionality under oxidative stress generated by an argon plasma jet (kINPen) were investigated by electrochemical techniques. In addition, liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry was employed to analyze the plasma-induced modifications on the model lipids. Various asymmetric bilayers mimicking the structure and properties of the erythrocyte cell membrane were transferred onto a gold electrode surface by Langmuir-Blodgett/Langmuir-Schaefer deposition techniques. A strong impact of cholesterol on membrane permeabilization by plasma-derived species was revealed. Moreover, the maintenance of the barrier properties is influenced by the chemical composition of the head group. Mainly the head group size and its hydrogen bonding capacities are relevant, and phosphatidylcholines are significantly more susceptible than phosphatidylserines and other lipid classes, underlining the high relevance of this lipid class in membrane dynamics and cell physiology.
Hmox1 Upregulation Is a Mutual Marker in Human Tumor Cells Exposed to Physical Plasma-Derived Oxidants
2018-10-27, Bekeschus, Sander, Freund, Eric, Wende, Kristian, Gandhirajan, Rajesh, Schmidt, Anke
Increasing numbers of cancer deaths worldwide demand for new treatment avenues. Cold physical plasma is a partially ionized gas expelling a variety of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, which can be harnesses therapeutically. Plasmas and plasma-treated liquids have antitumor properties in vitro and in vivo. Yet, global response signatures to plasma treatment have not yet been identified. To this end, we screened eight human cancer cell lines to investigate effects of low-dose, tumor-static plasma-treated medium (PTM) on cellular activity, immune-modulatory properties, and transcriptional levels of 22 redox-related genes. With PTM, a moderate reduction of metabolic activity and modest modulation of chemokine/cytokine pattern and markers of immunogenic cell death was observed. Strikingly, the Nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2 (nrf2) target heme oxygenase 1 (hmox1) was upregulated in all cell lines 4 h post PTM-treatment. nrf2 was not changed, but its baseline expression inversely and significantly correlated with hmox1 expression after exposure to PTM. Besides awarding hmox1 a central role with plasma-derived oxidants, we present a transcriptional redox map of 22 targets and chemokine/cytokine secretion map of 13 targets across eight different human tumor cell lines of four tumor entities at baseline activity that are useful for future studies in this field.
Singlet-Oxygen-Induced Phospholipase A2 Inhibition: A Major Role for Interfacial Tryptophan Dioxidation
2021, Nasri, Zahra, Memari, Seyedali, Wenske, Sebastian, Clemen, Ramona, Martens, Ulrike, Delcea, Mihaela, Bekeschus, Sander, Weltmann, Klaus-Dieter, von Woedtke, Thomas, Wende, Kristian
Several studies have revealed that various diseases such as cancer have been associated with elevated phospholipase A2 (PLA2) activity. Therefore, the regulation of PLA2 catalytic activity is undoubtedly vital. In this study, effective inactivation of PLA2 due to reactive species produced from cold physical plasma as a source to model oxidative stress is reported. We found singlet oxygen to be the most relevant active agent in PLA2 inhibition. A more detailed analysis of the plasma-treated PLA2 identified tryptophan 128 as a hot spot, rich in double oxidation. The significant dioxidation of this interfacial tryptophan resulted in an N-formylkynurenine product via the oxidative opening of the tryptophan indole ring. Molecular dynamics simulation indicated that the efficient interactions between the tryptophan residue and phospholipids are eliminated following tryptophan dioxidation. As interfacial tryptophan residues are predominantly involved in the attaching of membrane enzymes to the bilayers, tryptophan dioxidation and indole ring opening leads to the loss of essential interactions for enzyme binding and, consequently, enzyme inactivation. © 2021 The Authors. Chemistry - A European Journal published by Wiley-VCH GmbH
Non-touching plasma–liquid interaction – where is aqueous nitric oxide generated?
2018, Jablonowski, Helena, Schmidt-Bleker, Ansgar, Weltmann, Klaus-Dieter, von Woedtke, Thomas, Wende, Kristian
Mass transport through graphene is receiving increasing attention due to the potential for molecular sieving. Experimental studies are mostly limited to the translocation of protons, ions, and water molecules, and results for larger molecules through graphene are rare. Here, we perform controlled radical polymerization with surface-anchored self-assembled initiator monolayer in a monomer solution with single-layer graphene separating the initiator from the monomer. We demonstrate that neutral monomers are able to pass through the graphene (via native defects) and increase the graphene defects ratio (Raman ID/IG) from ca. 0.09 to 0.22. The translocations of anionic and cationic monomers through graphene are significantly slower due to chemical interactions of monomers with the graphene defects. Interestingly, if micropatterned initiator-monolayers are used, the translocations of anionic monomers apparently cut the graphene sheet into congruent microscopic structures. The varied interactions between monomers and graphene defects are further investigated by quantum molecular dynamics simulations.
A Neutrophil Proteomic Signature in Surgical Trauma Wounds
2018-3-7, Bekeschus, Sander, Lackmann, Jan-Wilm, Gümbel, Denis, Napp, Matthias, Schmidt, Anke, Wende, Kristian
Non-healing wounds continue to be a clinical challenge for patients and medical staff. These wounds have a heterogeneous etiology, including diabetes and surgical trauma wounds. It is therefore important to decipher molecular signatures that reflect the macroscopic process of wound healing. To this end, we collected wound sponge dressings routinely used in vacuum assisted therapy after surgical trauma to generate wound-derived protein profiles via global mass spectrometry. We confidently identified 311 proteins in exudates. Among them were expected targets belonging to the immunoglobulin superfamily, complement, and skin-derived proteins, such as keratins. Next to several S100 proteins, chaperones, heat shock proteins, and immune modulators, the exudates presented a number of redox proteins as well as a discrete neutrophil proteomic signature, including for example cathepsin G, elastase, myeloperoxidase, CD66c, and lipocalin 2. We mapped over 200 post-translational modifications (PTMs; cysteine/methionine oxidation, tyrosine nitration, cysteine trioxidation) to the proteomic profile, for example, in peroxiredoxin 1. Investigating manually collected exudates, we confirmed presence of neutrophils and their products, such as microparticles and fragments containing myeloperoxidase and DNA. These data confirmed known and identified less known wound proteins and their PTMs, which may serve as resource for future studies on human wound healing.
Time-resolved luminescence detection of peroxynitrite using a reactivity-based lanthanide probe
2020, Breen, Colum, Pal, Robert, Elsegood, Mark R.J., Teat, Simon J., Iza, Felipe, Wende, Kristian, Buckley, Benjamin R., Butler, Stephen
Peroxynitrite (ONOO-) is a powerful and short-lived oxidant formed in vivo, which can react with most biomolecules directly. To fully understand the roles of ONOO- in cell biology, improved methods for the selective detection and real-time analysis of ONOO- are needed. We present a water-soluble, luminescent europium(iii) probe for the rapid and sensitive detection of peroxynitrite in human serum, living cells and biological matrices. We have utilised the long luminescence lifetime of the probe to measure ONOO- in a time-resolved manner, effectively avoiding the influence of autofluorescence in biological samples. To demonstrate the utility of the Eu(iii) probe, we monitored the production of ONOO- in different cell lines, following treatment with a cold atmospheric plasma device commonly used in the clinic for skin wound treatment. This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.
A Comparison of Floating-Electrode DBD and kINPen Jet: Plasma Parameters to Achieve Similar Growth Reduction in Colon Cancer Cells Under Standardized Conditions
2017-9-6, Bekeschus, Sander, Lin, Abraham, Fridman, Alexander, Wende, Kristian, Weltmann, Klaus-Dieter, Miller, Vandana
A comparative study of two plasma sources (floating-electrode dielectric barrier discharge, DBD, Drexel University; atmospheric pressure argon plasma jet, kINPen, INP Greifswald) on cancer cell toxicity was performed. Cell culture protocols, cytotoxicity assays, and procedures for assessment of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) were standardized between both labs. The inhibitory concentration 50 (IC50) and its corresponding H2O2 deposition was determined for both devices. For the DBD, IC50 and H2O2 generation were largely dependent on the total energy input but not pulsing frequency, treatment time, or total number of cells. DBD cytotoxicity could not be replicated by addition of H2O2 alone and was inhibited by larger amounts of liquid present during the treatment. Jet plasma toxicity depended on peroxide generation as well as total cell number and amount of liquid. Thus, the amount of liquid present during plasma treatment in vitro is key in attenuating short-lived species or other physical effects from plasmas. These in vitro results suggest a role of liquids in or on tissues during plasma treatment in a clinical setting. Additionally, we provide a platform for correlation between different plasma sources for a predefined cellular response.
Non-thermal plasma activates human keratinocytes by stimulation of antioxidant and phase II pathways
2015, Schmidt, Anke, Dietrich, Stephan, Steuer, Anna, Weltmann, Klaus-Dieter, von Woedtke, Thomas, Masur, Kai, Wende, Kristian
Non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasma provides a novel therapeutic opportunity to control redox-based processes, e.g. wound healing, cancer, and inflammatory diseases. By spatial and time-resolved delivery of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, it allows stimulation or inhibition of cellular processes in biological systems. Our data show that both gene and protein expression is highly affected by non-thermal plasma. Nuclear factor erythroid-related factor 2 (NRF2) and phase II enzyme pathway components were found to act as key controllers orchestrating the cellular response in keratinocytes. Additionally, glutathione metabolism, which is a marker for NRF2-related signaling events, was affected. Among the most robustly increased genes and proteins, heme oxygenase 1, NADPH-quinone oxidoreductase 1, and growth factors were found. The roles of NRF2 targets, investigated by siRNA silencing, revealed that NRF2 acts as an important switch for sensing oxidative stress events. Moreover, the influence of non-thermal plasma on the NRF2 pathway prepares cells against exogenic noxae and increases their resilience against oxidative species. Via paracrine mechanisms, distant cells benefit from cell-cell communication. The finding that non-thermal plasma triggers hormesis-like processes in keratinocytes facilitates the understanding of plasma-tissue interaction and its clinical application.