Effects of artesunate on membrane surface morphology of human gastric cancer SGC-7901 cells observed under atomic force microscope

AIM: To detect the membrane surface morphology of cancer cells treated with artesunate (ART) under atomic force microscope (AFM). METHODS: Human gastric cancer SGC-7901 cells were cultured and treated with different concentrations of ART for 24 h. The membrane surface morphology, three-dimensional structures and ultrastructural changes of SGC-7901 cells were observed under AFM. The apoptosis of SGC-7901 cells was detected by flow cytometry. RESULTS: The AFM images revealed that the cell nuclear area was full and the surface of cell membrane was flat and smooth in control group. Compared with control group, the cell nuclear area collapsed and suffered atrophy, and the membrane surface had more pores in ART treatment groups. More pores were observed and the diameter of the pores was increased with the increase in ART concentration. The cell membrane ultrastructure showed that the particles in control group had an intensive distribution, some were cord-shaped and some gathered into a mass. The particles in ART treatment groups were fewer and distributed sparsely. Moreover, there were obvious lacunae in the surface of cell membrane. Quantitive measurement found that the height of cell nucleus area was decreased, and the surface root mean square roughness (Rq) and the surface average roughness (Ra) became smaller in ART treatment groups compared with control group. The apoptotic rates of the cells in ART treatment groups were increased with the increase in ART concentration, and were all significantly higher than that in control group. CONCLUSION: Our findings emphasize the significance of AFM in exploring the changes of the membrane surface morphology at nano-scale resolution following the treatment with anticancer drugs, which could not only identify the specific characteristics of morphological changes of the tumor cells, but also provide micromorphological references to reveal the mechanisms of anticancer drugs.