[Capacity of cells in culture  to a accumulate polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons at microspectrofluoremetric detectable levels. Preliminary results].
In the course of more general microspectrofluorometric studies on intracellular metabolic control mechanisms, the behaviour of living cells was investigated in culture media containing traces of Benzo(a)Pryene (BP) difficultly recordable by spectrofluorimetry. A rapid transfer of BP to the intracellular phase with accumulation was observed. In this manner the recording of the hydrocarbon fluorescence emission spectrum from one single cell became very easy. This fact has led to the investigation of the experimental conditions required for a quantitative detection of trace amounts of aromatic hydrocarbons, and the results presented here are the initial finding of such analysis. In a first part, the requirement for a recording of the complete fluorescence emission spectrum will be emphasized as a condition for a quantitative results. The second part of the presentation is devoted to observations effectively made on fluoresence emission spectra recorded from cells grown in the presence of traces of BP. Due to the aim pursued it is evident that the cells selected for this type of studies should exhibit a relatively slow metabolization of the hydrocarbon. Two significant facts emerge: (a) in most cases the fluorescence spectrum recorded from BP-medium grown cells is not identical to that of BP in solution (less defined structure, displaced maxima, and modified relative intensities of maxima). The spectrum observed in the BP medium grown cells is apparently the result of two spectra, one corresponding to a free BP fraction, the other to a BP fraction interacting with cellular constitutents. (b) When the cells were maintained for periods up to one to three months in presence of low amounts of BP, it was noticed that the BP fractions "interacting" seemed relatively more significant than in cells non "adapted"to BP. Both results are evidently subject to biological intrpretations outside the scope of this communication. However, they permit to draw the attention on the fact, that the quantitative determination of the hydrocarbon in the living cell can be achieved only after definition of a sufficiently precise experimental protocol.
D001580:Benzopyrenes / Q000378:metabolism*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence
D001580:Benzopyrenes
Capacité de cellules en culture d'accumuler des hydrocarbures polycycliques à un niveau décelable microspectrofluorimétriquement. Resultats preliminaires