FTIR spectroscopic study on carcinoma cells

The aim of this research is to establish the cell basis for the carcinoma tissue diagnosis by exploring a method to obtain the FTIR (Fourier transform infrared) spectra of the cultured carcinoma cells with FTIR spectroscopy and investigating the special spectral features of the carcinoma cells compared with the carcinoma tissues. In the present paper, the gastric carcinoma tissues confirmed by histology were measured using a Nicolet Magna750-II FTIR spectrometer and the corresponding FTIR spectra were obtained. The cultured gastric carcinoma cells (SGC7901) were centrifuged to provide a small pellet of cells for FTIR analysis. The cell pellet was then placed on a specially designed salt plate made of BaF2. Then the infrared spectra were recorded by the same equipment. Based on the previously established criteria, a comparative study was subsequently carried out between the spectra of the cultured carcinoma cells (SGC7901) and that of the corresponding gastric tissues. Several infrared spectral features of the carcinoma cells were obtained: the different bands between cells and tissues locate in the range of 3000-3600 cm^-1 and 1640 cm^-1 which are the range of the hydroxy stretching and blending bands of H₂O. There are more H₂O out of carcinoma cells in carcinoma tissues, so the strong bands of H₂O cover the distinctive bands of carcinoma cells in carcinoma tissues. Although the carcinoma tissue is more complicated, which might originate from the intrinsic complexity of the tissue, the results suggest that the spectral features of the carcinoma cells can be well reflected by that of the carcinoma tissue. This study shows that the diagnosis of carcinoma tissue by FTIR method exhibits sufficient cell basis.