Sonodynamic action of pyropheophorbide-a methyl ester induces mitochondrial damage in liver cancer cells

• Published in: Ultrasonics 2011-05, Vol.51 (4), p.480-484
• Main Authors: Xu, Jing, Xia, Xinshu, Leung, Albert Wingnang, Xiang, Junyan, Jiang, Yuan, Yu, Heping, Bai, Dingqun, Li, Xiaohong, Xu, Chuanshan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Analysis of Variance; Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular - drug therapy; Cell Death - drug effects; Flow Cytometry; Gastroenterology. Liver. Pancreas. Abdomen; Liver cancer; Liver Neoplasms - drug therapy; Liver. Biliary tract. Portal circulation. Exocrine pancreas; Medical sciences; Membrane Potentials - drug effects; Mice; Microscopy, Electron; Mitochondria; Mitochondria, Liver - drug effects; Mitochondrial Membranes - drug effects; Porphyrins - pharmacology; Pyropheophorbide-a methyl ester; Radiotherapy. Instrumental treatment. Physiotherapy. Reeducation. Rehabilitation, orthophony, crenotherapy. Diet therapy and various other treatments (general aspects); Sonodynamic therapy; Technology. Biomaterials. Equipments. Material. Instrumentation; Tumor Cells, Cultured; Tumors; Ultrasonic Therapy - methods
• ISSN: 0041-624X; 1874-9968
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ultras.2010.11.014

► MPPa-mediated SDT could effectively kill liver cancer cells. ► MPPa-mediated SDT damaged mitochondrial morphology and function. ► Mitochondrial damage might be an important event in the process of cell death induced by sonodynamic action of MPPa. Sonodynamic therapy with pyropheophorbide-a methyl ester (MPPa) presents a promising aspect in treating liver cancer. The present study aims to investigate the mitochondrial damage of liver cancer cells induced by MPPa-mediated sonodynamic action. Mouse hepatoma cell line H 22 cells were incubated with MPPa (2 μM) for 20 h and then exposed to ultrasound with an intensity of 0.97 W/cm 2 for 8 s. Cytotoxicity was investigated 24 h after sonodynamic action using MTT assay and light microscopy. Mitochondrial membrane potential (Δ Ψm) was analyzed using flow cytometry with rhodamine 123 staining and ultrastructural changes were observed using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The cytotoxicity of MPPa-mediated SDT on H 22 cell line was 73.00 ± 3.42%, greater than ultrasound treatment alone (28.12 ± 5.19%) significantly while MPPa treatment alone had no significant effect on H 22 cells. Moreover, after MPPa-mediated SDT cancer cells showed swollen mitochondria under TEM and a significant collapse of mitochondrial membrane potential. Our findings demonstrated that MPPa-mediated SDT could remarkably induce cell death of H 22 cells, and highlighted that mitochondrial damage might be an important cause of cell death induced by MPPa-mediated SDT.