Non-monotonic changes in clonogenic cell survival induced by disulphonated aluminum phthalocyanine photodynamic treatment in a human glioma cell line

BACKGROUND: Photodynamic therapy (PDT) involves excitation of sensitizer molecules by visible light in the presence of molecular oxygen, thereby generating reactive oxygen species (ROS) through electron/energy transfer processes. The ROS, thus produced can cause damage to both the structure and the function of the cellular constituents resulting in cell death. Our preliminary investigations of dose-response relationships in a human glioma cell line (BMG-1) showed that disulphonated aluminum phthalocyanine (AlPcS(2)) photodynamically induced loss of cell survival in a concentration dependent manner up to 1 μM, further increases in AlPcS(2)concentration (>1 μM) were, however, observed to decrease the photodynamic toxicity. Considering the fact that for most photosensitizers only monotonic dose-response (survival) relationships have been reported, this result was unexpected. The present studies were, therefore, undertaken to further investigate the concentration dependent photodynamic effects of AlPcS(2). METHODS: Concentration-dependent cellular uptake, sub-cellular localization, proliferation and photodynamic effects of AlPcS(2 )were investigated in BMG-1 cells by absorbance and fluorescence measurements, image analysis, cell counting and colony forming assays, flow cytometry and micronuclei formation respectively. RESULTS: The cellular uptake as a function of extra-cellular AlPcS(2 )concentrations was observed to be biphasic. AlPcS(2 )was distributed throughout the cytoplasm with intense fluorescence in the perinuclear regions at a concentration of 1 μM, while a weak diffuse fluorescence was observed at higher concentrations. A concentration-dependent decrease in cell proliferation with accumulation of cells in G(2)+M phase was observed after PDT. The response of clonogenic survival after AlPcS(2)-PDT was non-monotonic with respect to AlPcS(2 )concentration. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the results we conclude that concentration-dependent changes in physico-chemical properties of sensitizer such as aggregation may influence intracellular transport and localization of photosensitizer. Consequent modifications in the photodynamic induction of lesions and their repair leading to different modes of cell death may contribute to the observed non-linear effects.