Biomedical subjects

Miquel E Cabañas

Publications and source records attributed to Miquel E Cabañas.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

A possible cellular explanation for the NMR-visible mobile lipid (ML) changes in cultured C6 glioma cells with growth.

The NMR-visible mobile lipid (ML) signals of C6 glioma cells have been monitored at 9.4 and 11.7 T (single pulse and 136 ms echo time) from cell pellets by (1)H NMR spectroscopy. A reproducible behavior with growth has been found. ML signals increase from log phase (4 days of culture) to postconfluence (7 days of culture). This ML behavior is paralleled by the percentage of cells containing epifluorescence detectable Nile Red stained cytosolic droplets (range 23%-60% of cells). The number of positive cells increases after seeding (days 0-1), decreases at log phase (days 2-4), increases again at confluence (day 5) and even further at post-confluence (day 7). C6 cells proliferation arrest induced by growth factors deprivation induces an even higher accumulation of cytosolic droplets (up to 100% of cells) and a large ML increase (up to 21-fold with respect to 4-day log phase cells). When neutral lipid content is quantified by thin-layer chromatography (TLC) on total lipid extracts of C6 cells, no statistically significant change can be detected (in microg/10(8) cells) with growth or growth arrest in major neutral lipid containing species (triacylglycerol, TAG, diacylglycerol, DAG, cholesteryl esters, ChoEst) except for DAG, which decreased in post-confluent, 7-day cells. The apparent discrepancy between NMR, optical microscopy and TLC results can be reconciled if possible biophysical changes in the neutral lipid pool with growth are taken into account. A cellular explanation for the observed results is proposed: the TAG-droplet-size-change hypothesis.

Animals↗

PubMed2006

Supported planar bilayers from hexagonal phases.

In this work the presence of inverted hexagonal phases H(II) of 1-palmitoy-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine (POPE) and cardiolipin (CL) (0.8:0.2, mol/mol) in the presence of Ca(2+) were observed via (31)P-NMR spectroscopy. When suspensions of the same composition were extended onto mica, H(II) phases transformed into structures which features are those of supported planar bilayers (SPBs). When characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM), the SPBs revealed the existence of two laterally segregated domains (the interdomain height being approximately 1 nm). Cytochrome c (cyt c), which binds preferentially to acidic phospholipids like CL, was used to demonstrate the nature of the domains. We used 1-anilinonaphtalen-8-sulfonate (ANS) to demonstrate that in the presence of cyt c, the fluorescence of ANS decreased significantly in lamellar phases. Conversely, the ANS binding to H(II) phases was negligible. When cyt c was injected into AFM fluid imaging cells, where SPBs of POPE:CL had previously formed poorly defined structures, protein aggregates ( approximately 100 nm diameter) were ostensibly observed only on the upper domains, which suggests not only that they are mainly formed by CL, but also provides evidence of bilayer formation from H(II) phases. Furthermore, a model for the nanostructure of the SPBs is herein proposed.

Aluminum Silicates↗

PubMed2006

Development of a decision support system for diagnosis and grading of brain tumours using in vivo magnetic resonance single voxel spectra.

A computer-based decision support system to assist radiologists in diagnosing and grading brain tumours has been developed by the multi-centre INTERPRET project. Spectra from a database of 1H single-voxel spectra of different types of brain tumours, acquired in vivo from 334 patients at four different centres, are clustered according to their pathology, using automated pattern recognition techniques and the results are presented as a two-dimensional scatterplot using an intuitive graphical user interface (GUI). Formal quality control procedures were performed to standardize the performance of the instruments and check each spectrum, and teams of expert neuroradiologists, neurosurgeons, neurologists and neuropathologists clinically validated each case. The prototype decision support system (DSS) successfully classified 89% of the cases in an independent test set of 91 cases of the most frequent tumour types (meningiomas, low-grade gliomas and high-grade malignant tumours--glioblastomas and metastases). It also helps to resolve diagnostic difficulty in borderline cases. When the prototype was tested by radiologists and other clinicians it was favourably received. Results of the preliminary clinical analysis of the added value of using the DSS for brain tumour diagnosis with MRS showed a small but significant improvement over MRI used alone. In the comparison of individual pathologies, PNETs were significantly better diagnosed with the DSS than with MRI alone.

Algorithms↗

PubMed2005

In vitro characterization of an Fe(8) cluster as potential MRI contrast agent.

The complex [(tacn)(6)Fe(8)(micro(3)-O)(2)(micro(2)-OH)(12)]Br(8).9H(2)O (Fe(8)) was evaluated in vitro as a new kind of possible MRI contrast agent. Relaxivities were measured at 1.41 and 9.4 T for Fe(8) and commercial Gd-DTPA dissolved in PBS. There was significant difference for r(1) and r(2) values between Fe(8) and Gd-DTPA at high field (9.4 T) and for r(1) at low field (1.4 T) (p<0.05). Phantom studies with T(1)-weighted MRI at 9.4 T suggest T(1) contrast potential for Fe(8). That is, up to 5.2 times higher intensity enhancement with respect to that of equimolar Gd-DTPA was obtained with an Fe(8) concentration, referred to the whole molecule, of 0.2 mM, for which no toxicity on C6 cells could be detected. No toxic effects on cultured C6 cells were observed up to a concentration of 1 mM Fe(8).

Animals↗

PubMed2002

Measurement by nuclear magnetic resonance diffusion of the dimensions of the mobile lipid compartment in C6 cells.

The (1)H spectrum of certain tumor cells, in vivo tumors, and their biopsies in vitro shows a narrow and intense resonance at 1.26 ppm, which has been assigned to the fatty acyl chain of triglycerides [nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) visible mobile lipids, MLs]. We have used diffusion-weighted NMR spectroscopy to directly address the subcellular origin of MLs in the case of C6 cells in which lactate accumulation had been inhibited by prior iodoacetamide incubation. Borage oil and artificial lipid droplets were used as model systems of free and restricted diffusion, respectively. The characteristic diameter for the ML resonance compartment measured by NMR for the C6 cells was not significantly different from the one obtained with phase contrast microscopy (1.88 +/- 0.04 micro m from NMR versus 1.37 +/- 0.33 micro m from microscopy). We herewith provide direct and noninvasive evidence that the lipid signal at 1.26 ppm in C6 cells, which remains visible in long echo time (T(E) = 136 ms) experiments, mostly originates from subcellular structures with diameters of 1-2 micro m, which correspond to the cytosolic lipid droplets that can be detected in optical microscopy preparations of the same cells.

Animals↗