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Vacuolization and apoptosis induced by nano-selenium in HeLa cell line

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  • Special Topic · Cancer Nanotechnology
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Abstract

Selenium (Se), a potential drug candidate for cancer prevention, has a special property: Its nutritional dosage and tolerable upper intake level appear in a narrow range, while the therapeutic use of this mineral may depend on a higher body intake level. Nano-selenium (nano-Se) particles, however, preserve the selenium element’s low toxicity characteristic but give a high biochemical activity effect of selenium compounds. In the present study different morphologies of synthesized nano-Se were evaluated concerning its anti-proliferation and apoptosis-inducing effect. Then nano-Se (sphere) were picked out to investigate its influence on two significant events involved in apoptosis, cell cycle arrest and mitochondrial membrane potential disruption. Furthermore, massive vacuolization of HeLa cells treated by nano-Se (sphere) was observed and more methods were used to measure the level of vacuolization. Such vacuolization needs energy supply and has been demonstrated to be related to Se endocytosis. These results suggest a possible mechanism to trigger apoptosis initiation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale; School of Life Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230027, China

    GuanYi Huang, Ying Zhang, Qiang Zhang & LongPing Wen

  2. Department of Chemistry, School of Science, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China

    Bin Zhang

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  1. GuanYi Huang
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  2. Ying Zhang
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  3. Qiang Zhang
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  4. Bin Zhang
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Correspondence to LongPing Wen.

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Huang, G., Zhang, Y., Zhang, Q. et al. Vacuolization and apoptosis induced by nano-selenium in HeLa cell line. Sci. China Chem. 53, 2272–2278 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-010-4116-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-010-4116-7

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