Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy for Rapid Screening and Live-Cell Monitoring: Application to Nanotoxicology

Abstract

A significant challenge to realize the full potential of nanotechnology for therapeutic and diagnostic applications is to understand and evaluate how live cells interact with an external stimulus, such as a nanosized particle, and the toxicity and broad risk associated with these stimuli. It is difficult to capture the complexity and dynamics of these interactions by following omics-based approaches exclusively, which can be expensive and time-consuming. Attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy is well suited to provide noninvasive live-cell monitoring of cellular responses to potentially toxic nanosized particles or other stimuli. This alternative approach provides the ability to carry out rapid toxicity screenings and nondisruptive monitoring of live-cell cultures. We review the technical basis of the approach, the instrument configuration and interface with the biological media, the various effects that impact the data, subsequent data analysis and toxicity, and present some preliminary results on live-cell monitoring.

Keywords::

• attenuated total reflectance
• cell culture monitoring
• Fourier-transform infrared
• live-cell monitoring
• nanosized particle
• nanotoxicology in vitro
• rapid screening
• spectroscopy
• toxicity

Financial & competing interests disclosure

This work was funded by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) as well as by the Technology Maturation Program of the Battelle Memorial Institute. The authors acknowledge the support by C Cejka and E Murphy, J Pounds and J Teeguarden. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is a multiprogram national laboratory operated by Battelle Memorial Institute for the US Department of Energy under DE-AC06-76RLO 1830. SK Sundaram acknowledges the support of the Inamori Professorship at Alfred University by the Kyocera Corporation. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) as well as by the Technology Maturation Program of the Battelle Memorial Institute. The authors acknowledge the support by C Cejka and E Murphy, J Pounds and J Teeguarden. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is a multiprogram national laboratory operated by Battelle Memorial Institute for the US Department of Energy under DE-AC06-76RLO 1830. SK Sundaram acknowledges the support of the Inamori Professorship at Alfred University by the Kyocera Corporation. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.