Interaction between lanthanide ions and Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells

• Published in: Journal of biological inorganic chemistry Vol. 20; no. 7; pp. 1097 - 1107
• Main Authors: Ene, Cristian D., Ruta, Lavinia L., Nicolau, Ioana, Popa, Claudia V., Iordache, Virgil, Neagoe, Aurora D., Farcasanu, Ileana C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01-10-2015
• Subjects: Biochemistry; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Calcium - chemistry; Cell Survival - drug effects; Ions - pharmacology; Lanthanoid Series Elements - chemistry; Lanthanoid Series Elements - toxicity; Life Sciences; Microbiology; Models, Biological; Original Paper; Saccharomyces cerevisiae - chemistry; Saccharomyces cerevisiae - drug effects; Calcium signaling; Lanthanide; Aequorin; Alkaline stress; Saccharomyces cerevisiae
• ISSN: 0949-8257; 1432-1327
• DOI: 10.1007/s00775-015-1291-1

Lanthanides are a group of non-essential elements with important imaging and therapeutic applications. Although trivalent lanthanide ions (Ln
3+
) are used as potent blockers of Ca
2+
channels, the systematic studies correlating Ln
3+
accumulation and toxicity to Ca
2+
channel blocking activity are scarce. In this study, we made use of the eukaryotic model
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
to investigate the correlation between Ln
3+
accumulation, their toxicity and their capacity to block the exogenous stress-induced Ca
2+
influx into the cytosol. It was found that the Ln
3+
blocked the Ca
2+
entry into the yeast cells only when present at concentration high enough to allow rapid binding to cell surface. At lower concentrations, Ln
3+
were taken up by the cell, but Ca
2+
blockage was no longer achieved. At 1 mM concentration, all ions from the Ln
3+
series could block Ca
2+
entry into cytosol with the exception of La
3+
, and to a lesser extent, Pr
3+
and Nd
3+
. The plasma membrane Ca
2+
-channel Cch1/Mid1 contributed to La
3+
and Gd
3+
entry into the cells, with a significant preference for La
3+
. The results open the possibility to obtain cells loaded with controlled amounts and ratios of Ln
3+
.