Disaggregation of HeLa-Cx43- and HeLa-spheroids induced by PUVA and photo-oxidized psoralen (POP)

To investigate the effects of PUVA (psoralen + UVA-irradiation) and photooxidized psoralen (POP) on cell-cell junctions, two kinds of multicellular spheroids, which were grown from HeLa cells of epithelioid human cervix carcinoma, were used as a model systems: i) defective in intercellular communication through gap junctions (HeLa-spheroids) and ii) transfected with coding sequences of murine connexin Cx43 with restored gap-junction coupling (HeLa-Cx43-spheroids). It was been found that both PUVA and POP induced disaggregation of HeLa-spheroids as well as HeLa-Cx43-spheroids. It implies that gap-junction plaques are not, apparently, critical targets in psoralen-photosensitized disaggregation. The rate of disaggregation was estimated as inverse time of disaggregation of 50% or 100% spheroids in suspensions (1/t50 or 1/t100, respectively). The rate of PUVA-induced disaggregation was found to increase with the increase of UVA-fluence up to 85 kJ/m2. Photosensitization coefficient was highest at low UVA-fluences (4-6 kJ/m2) and significantly decreased with increase in UVA-fluence. The viability of cells in spheroids was estimated with the use of trypan blue stain. At low UVA-fluences, the process of disaggregation was found to occur without the formation of trypan positive cells in spheroids. Results obtained evidence that PUVA-induced disaggregation of spheroids may occur, at least partially, through the action of POP-products.© (2003) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.