Melittin-induced alterations in morphology and deformability of human red blood cells using quantitative phase imaging techniques

Abstract

Melittin, the active molecule of apitoxin or bee venom, is a transmembrane protein, and it forms small pores on the cell membrane 1 . Once melittin binds to the lipid membranes of cells, toroid-shaped pores are formed and enable the leakage of molecules with the size of tens of kDa. It results in changes in the permeability of the cell membrane depending on the melittin concentration. As a pore-forming protein, melittin has been extensively studied from diverse aspects including its structure, binding mechanisms, and pore-forming processes [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]

Correlative three-dimensional fluorescence and refractive index tomography: bridging the gap between molecular specificity and quantitative bioimaging

“…Furthermore, since the RI value of most biological specimen is linearly proportional to protein concentration [13,14], ODT provides quantitative information including protein concentration and dry mass. For these reasons, there are growing numbers of biological and medical studies employing ODT to investigate the physiology of various samples [4] including neuron cells [15,16], red blood cells [17][18][19][20], parasites in host cells [21,22], immune cells [23], bacteria [15,24], gold nanoparticles in live cells [25], embryos [26], live cells in a microfluidic channel [27][28][29], and blood cells in vivo [30].…”

Label-free identification of non-activated lymphocytes using three-dimensional refractive index tomography and machine learning

“…Previously, ODT has been widely used to study various biological samples including red blood cells [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] however, we were unable to identify lymphocyte cell types due to their indistinguishable cellular morphology and biochemical characteristics.…”

“…Previously, ODT has been widely used to study various biological samples including red blood cells [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] , white blood cells (WBC) 23,24 , hepatocytes 25 , cancer cells 16,[26][27][28][29][30][31][32] , neurons 32,33 , bacteria 34,35 , phytoplankton 36 , and hair 37 . In our previous study, we reported that ODT enables the quantitative analysis of WBCs including lymphocytes and macrophages 23 .…”

Correlative three-dimensional fluorescence and refractive index tomography: bridging the gap between molecular specificity and quantitative bioimaging

“…Furthermore, since the RI value of most biological specimen is linearly proportional to protein concentration [11,12], ODT provides quantitative information including protein concentration and dry mass. For these reasons, there are growing numbers of biological and medical studies employing ODT to investigate the physiology of various samples [3] including neuron cells [13,14], red blood cells [15][16][17], parasites in host cells [18,19], immune cells [20], bacteria [13,21], gold nanoparticles in live cells [22], embryos [23], live cells in a microfluidic channel [24][25][26], and blood cells in vivo [27].…”