Evaluation of the antiproliferative and oxidative effects of polymeric cryogels on the model eukaryotic yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Abstract

Here, the effects of previously characterized poly(HEMA-N-vinyl formamide) (PHEMA-NVF) cryogels on viability, surface morphology, total antioxidant-oxidant status, antioxidant enzyme activities and biochemical makeup of Saccharomyces cerevisiae were investigated for the first time. The viability of the cells released from the PHEMA-NVF cryogels were found to decrease dramatically up to 23.96 ± 1.44% compared to the plain PHEMA cryogel as control group without NVF. Additionally, this cryogel caused blebbing and holes on the cell surface. Although TOS levels gradually increased with the increasing amounts of NVF, statistically significant difference was determined only between the cryogel containing 22 µl NVF and control. The gradual increases in TAS levels in response to cellular stress were recorded depend on the increase of NVF amounts up to 22 µl. While enzymatic antioxidant system was generally induced in cells released from the cryogel prepared with relatively low levels of NVF, these activities dramatically decreased at the higher amounts of the comonomer. Finally, FTIR analysis showed that especially the highest studied concentration of NVF caused protein degradation and increase the relative concentration of lipid and polysaccharide molecules. Therefore, it can be suggested that this comonomer causes oxidative stress that the cell cannot cope with above a certain amount.