Volume 11, Issue 12 e201800099
FULL ARTICLE

In vitro cytotoxicity evaluation of cadmium by label-free holographic microscopy

Martina Mugnano

Corresponding Author

Martina Mugnano

Department of Physical Sciences and Technologies of Matter (DSFTM), CNR, Institute of Applied Science & Intelligent Systems (CNR-ISASI), Pozzuoli, Italy

Correspondence

Martina Mugnano, CNR, Institute of Applied Science & Intelligent Systems (CNR-ISASI), Via Campi Flegrei 34, 80078 Pozzuoli (NA), Italy.

Email: [email protected]

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Pasquale Memmolo

Pasquale Memmolo

Department of Physical Sciences and Technologies of Matter (DSFTM), CNR, Institute of Applied Science & Intelligent Systems (CNR-ISASI), Pozzuoli, Italy

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Lisa Miccio

Lisa Miccio

Department of Physical Sciences and Technologies of Matter (DSFTM), CNR, Institute of Applied Science & Intelligent Systems (CNR-ISASI), Pozzuoli, Italy

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Simonetta Grilli

Simonetta Grilli

Department of Physical Sciences and Technologies of Matter (DSFTM), CNR, Institute of Applied Science & Intelligent Systems (CNR-ISASI), Pozzuoli, Italy

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Francesco Merola

Francesco Merola

Department of Physical Sciences and Technologies of Matter (DSFTM), CNR, Institute of Applied Science & Intelligent Systems (CNR-ISASI), Pozzuoli, Italy

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Alejandro Calabuig

Alejandro Calabuig

Department of Physical Sciences and Technologies of Matter (DSFTM), CNR, Institute of Applied Science & Intelligent Systems (CNR-ISASI), Pozzuoli, Italy

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Alessia Bramanti

Alessia Bramanti

Department of Physical Sciences and Technologies of Matter (DSFTM), CNR, Institute of Applied Science & Intelligent Systems (CNR-ISASI), Pozzuoli, Italy

Department of Physical Sciences and Technologies of Matter (DSFTM), IRCCS Centre for Neuroscience Bonino-Pulejo, Messina, Italy

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Emanuela Mazzon

Emanuela Mazzon

Department of Physical Sciences and Technologies of Matter (DSFTM), IRCCS Centre for Neuroscience Bonino-Pulejo, Messina, Italy

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Pietro Ferraro

Pietro Ferraro

Department of Physical Sciences and Technologies of Matter (DSFTM), CNR, Institute of Applied Science & Intelligent Systems (CNR-ISASI), Pozzuoli, Italy

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First published: 05 August 2018
Citations: 25
Funding information Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche

Abstract

Among all environmental pollutants, the toxic heavy metal cadmium is considered as a human carcinogen. Cadmium may induce cell death by apoptosis in various cell types, although the underlying mechanisms are still unclear. In this paper we show how a label-free digital holography (DH)-based technique is able to quantify the evolution of key biophysical parameters of cells during the exposure to cadmium for the first time. Murine embryonic fibroblasts NIH 3T3 are chosen here as cellular model for studying the cadmium effects. The results demonstrate that DH is able to retrieve the temporal evolution of different key parameters such as cell volume, projected area, cell thickness and dry mass, thus providing a full quantitative characterization of the cell physical behaviour during cadmium exposure. Our results show that the label-free character of the technique would allow biologists to perform systematic and reliable studies on cell death process induced by cadmium and we believe that more in general this can be easily extended to others heavy metals, thus avoiding the time-consuming, expensive and invasive label-based procedures used nowadays in the field. In fact, pollution by heavy metals is severe issue that needs rapid and reliable methods to be settled.

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