The volume changes and occurrence of tension pores in cells in different hypotonic medium of Leibowitz solution and water and equivalent hypotonic solution of sucrose were observed. Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells were used in experiments. The cells were grown in minimal essential medium supplemented with 5% fetal bovine serum (FBS) and antibiotics in CO2 incubator at 37°C. All experiments were performed with confocal microscope, which allows us to illuminate and capture only one specific slice of a cell at once. For cell volume changes we labeled cell membrane with the CellMask marker and for leakage experiments for observing tension pores in cells we labeled cells with the calcein marker.
To determine the cell volume, the content of the whole cell was divided into stack of horizontal slices along the z-axis spaced bg 0.5 ?m. The volume changes of the cells were observed in Leibowitz solution, in distilled water, hypotonic media of Leibowitz solution with 40%, 60%, 80%, and 90% water content and equivalent hypotonic solution of sucrose with osmolarities 23, 65, 125 and 315 mOsm/l. The cells were imaged before we replace hypotonic solution and after 2, 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 minutes after hypotonic solution replacement. The cell volume was determined by determination the area of the cell section at 7 to 14 evenly spaced slices.
For leakage experiments the cells were imaged only in one selected plane. The cells tension pores were observed in distilled water, hypotonic media of Leibowitz solution with 60%, 80%, 85%, 90% and 95% water content and equivalent hypotonic solution of sucrose with osmolarities 23, 65 and 125 mOsm/l. The cells in distilled water, in hypotonic media with higher water content and in hypotonic solutions of sucrose with lower osmolarities were imaged every 2 seconds 10 minutes after hypotonic solution replacement. The cells in hypotonic solutions with a lower water content and in hypotonic solutions of sucrose with higher osmolarities were imaged every 30 seconds 1 hour after hypotonic solution replacement.
The obtained results of cell volume measurements were explained in terms of a theoretical model, developed on Institute of Biophysics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana. We found that sudden decrease of calcein intensity in marker cells due to formation of the tension pores, which can be clearly seen in the recordings.
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