Journal
EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
Volume 235, Issue 6, Pages 741-750Publisher
SOC EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY MEDICINE
DOI: 10.1258/ebm.2010.009258
Keywords
zinc; toxicity; HeLa; neuron; cardiomyocyte; PC-12; HT-29
Categories
Funding
- NIH [RO1 EB 003924, 1RO1 HL 77305-05]
- Texas Advanced Technology Program
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The zinc(II) ion has recently been implicated in a number of novel functions and pathologies in loci as diverse as the brain, retina, small intestine, prostate, heart, pancreas, and immune system. Zinc ions are a required nutrient but elevated concentrations are known to kill cells in vitro. Paradoxical observations regarding zinc's effects have appeared frequently in the literature, and often their physiological relevance is unclear. We found that for PC-12, He La and HT-29 cell lines as well as primary cultures of cardiac myocytes and neurons in vitro in differing media, approximately 5 nmol/L free zinc (pZn = 8.3, where pZn is defined as - log(10) [free Zn(2+)]) produced apparently healthy cells, but 20-fold higher or (in one case) lower concentrations were usually harmful as judged by multiple criteria. These results indicate that (1) the free zinc ion levels of media should be controlled with a metal ion buffer; (2) adding zinc or strong zinc ligands to an insufficiently buffered medium may lead to unpredictably low or high free zinc levels that are often harmful to cells; and (3) it is generally desirable to measure free zinc ion levels due to the presence of contaminating zinc in many biochemicals and unknown buffering capacity of many media.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available