Affiliations: Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Roma “La Sapienza”, Roma, Italy | Dipartimento di Medicina Sperimentale e Patologia, Università di Roma “La Sapienza”, Roma, Italy | INFM and Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Roma “La Sapienza”, Roma, Italy
Note: [] Corresponding author: A. Congiu Castellano, Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Roma “La Sapienza”, Piazzale A. Moro 2, 00185 Roma, Italy. Tel.: +39 06 49913503; Fax: +39 06 4463158; E‐mail: a.congiu@caspur.it.
Abstract: We used Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) combined with flow cytometry to study the apoptosis and necrosis processes in Jurkat, a lymphocyte cell line. The apoptosis was induced in the cells by a chemical agent, the actinomycin D, while the necrosis was induced lowering the pH value to 4.2. The apoptotic events were analysed by flow cytometry (using annexin V and propidium iodide) and contemporary monitored by FTIR spectroscopy at different times after the treatment. This comparison allowed us to find in the IR spectrum, between 3000 cm−1 and 2800 cm−1, a “marker band” of the apoptosis corresponding to the exposure of phosphatidylserine on the outer leaflet of the membrane. A marker of a specific cellular process obtained by using a non‐destructive technique such as FTIR spectroscopy, has a great significance in the diagnostic medicine providing a tool for detecting pathologies in vivo.
