Abstract
Cultured adherent cells can be electroporated in situ, as they grow on a glass slide coated with electrically conductive, optically transparent indium-tin oxide (ITO). Although the introduction of DNA is a common use, the technique of electroporation in situ is valuable for studying many aspects of signal transduction. This is because, under the appropriate conditions, in situ electroporation can be remarkably nontraumatic, while a large variety of molecules, such as peptides, oligonucleotides, or drugs, are introduced instantly and into essentially 100% of the cells, making this technique especially suitable for kinetic studies of effector activation. Following the introduction of the material, the cells can be either extracted or biochemically analyzed, or their morphology and gene expression can be examined by immunocytochemistry. In this chapter, we describe the introduction of a peptide blocking the Src-homology 2 domain of the adaptor Grb2 to inhibit the activation of the downstream effector Erk1/2 by EGF. The setup includes nonelectroporated, control cells growing side by side with the electroporated ones on the same type of ITO-coated surface. In a modified version, this assembly can be used very effectively for studying intercellular, junctional communication: cells are grown on a glass slide half of which is ITO-coated. An electric pulse is applied in the presence of the fluorescent dye lucifer yellow, causing its penetration into the cells growing on the conductive part of the slide, and the migration of the dye to the nonelectroporated cells growing on the nonconductive area is microscopically observed under fluorescence illumination.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
1. Raptis, L. and Firth, K.L. (1990) Electroporation of adherent cells in situ. DNA Cell Biol. 9, 615–621.
2. MacCorkle, R.A. and Tan, T.H. (2005) Mitogen-activated protein kinases in cell-cycle control. Cell Biochem. Biophys. 43, 451–461.
3. Brownell, H.L., Lydon, N., Schaefer, E., Roberts, T.M. and Raptis, L. (1998) Inhibition of epidermal growth factor-mediated ERK1/2 activation by in situ electroporation of nonpermeant [(alkylamino)methyl]acrylophenone derivatives. DNA Cell Biol. 17, 265–274.
4. Arulanandam, R., Vultur, A. and Raptis, L. (2005) Transfection techniques affecting Stat3 activity levels. Anal. Biochem. 338, 83–89.
5. Brownell, H.L., Firth, K.L., Kawauchi, K., Delovitch, T.L. and Raptis, L. (1997) A novel technique for the study of Ras activation: electroporation of [α32P]GTP. DNA Cell Biol. 16, 103–110.
6. Tomai, E., Vultur, A., Balboa, V. et al. (2003) In situ electroporation of radioactive compounds into adherent cells. DNA Cell Biol. 22, 339–346.
7. Raptis, L., Vultur, A., Brownell, H.L. and Firth, K.L. (2006) Dissecting pathways: in situ electroporation for the study of signal transduction and gap junctional communication. In: Celis, J.E., (ed.). Cell biology: a laboratory handbook. Academic, NY, pp. 341–354.
8. Giorgetti-Peraldi, S., Ottinger, E., Wolf, G., Ye, B., Burke, T.R., Jr. and Shoelson, S.E. (1997) Cellular effects of phosphotyrosine-binding domain inhibitors on insulin receptor signalling and trafficking. Mol. Cell. Biol. 17, 1180–1188.
9. Boccaccio, C., Ando, M., Tamagnone, L. et al. (1998) Induction of epithelial tubules by growth factor HGF depends on the STAT pathway. Nature. 391, 285–288.
10. Bardelli, A., Longati, P., Gramaglia, D. et al. (1998) Uncoupling signal transducers from oncogenic MET mutants abrogates cell transformation and inhibits invasive growth. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 95, 14379–14383.
11. Gambarotta, G., Boccaccio, C., Giordano, C., Ando, M., Stella, M.C. and Comglio, M.C. (1996) Ets up-regulates met transcription. Oncogene. 13, 1911–1917.
12. Arulanandam, R., Vultur, A. and Raptis, L. (2005) Transfection techniques affecting Stat3 activity levels. Anal. Biochem. 338, 83–89.
13. Boussiotis, V.A., Freeman, G.J., Berezovskaya, A., Barber, D.L. and Nadler, L.M. (1997) Maintenance of human T cell anergy: blocking of IL-2 gene transcription by activated Rap1. Science. 278, 124–128.
14. Raptis, L., Vultur, A., Tomai, E., Brownell, H.L. and Firth, K.L. (2006) In situ electroporation of radioactive nucleotides: assessment of Ras activity and 32P-labelling of cellular proteins. In: Celis, J.E. (ed.). Cell biology: a laboratory handbook. Academic, San Diego, CA, pp. 329–339.
15. Nakashima, N., Ross, D.W., Xiao, S. et al. (1999) The functional role of crk II in actin cytoskeleton organization and mitogenesis. J. Biol. Chem. 274, 3001–3008.
16. Marais, R., Spooner, R.A., Stribbling, S.M., Light, Y., Martin, J. and Springer, C.J. (1997) A cell surface tethered enzyme improves efficiency in gene-directed enzyme prodrug therapy. Nat. Biotechnol. 15, 1373–1377.
17. Brownell, H.L., Narsimhan, R.P., Corbley, M.J., Mann, V.M., Whitfield, J.J. and Raptis, L. (1996) Ras is involved in gap junction closure in mouse fibroblasts or preadipocytes but not in differentiated adipocytes. DNA Cell Biol. 15, 443–451.
Hodges, R.S. and Smith, J.A. (eds.) (1994) Peptides: chemistry, structure and biology. Escom, Leiden.
19. Raptis, L., Brownell, H.L., Vultur, A.M., Ross, G.M., Tremblay, E. and Eliott, B.E. (2000) Specific inhibition of growth factor-stimulated ERK1/2 activation in intact cells by electroporation of a Grb2-SH2 binding peptide. Cell Growth Differ. 11, 293–303.
20. Raptis, L., Tomai, E. and Firth, K.L. (2000) Improved procedure for examination of gap junctional, intercellular communication by in situ electroporation on a partly conductive slide. Biotechniques. 29, 222–226.
21. Schlessinger, J. (2000) Cell signaling by receptor tyrosine kinases. Cell. 103, 211–225.
22. Firth, K.L., Brownell, H.L. and Raptis, L. (1997) Improved procedure for electroporation of peptides into adherent cells in situ. Biotechniques. 23, 644–645.
23. Raptis, L., Brownell, H.L., Firth, K.L. and MacKenzie, L.W. (1994) A novel technique for the study of intercellular, junctional communication: electroporation of adherent cells on a partly conductive slide. DNA Cell Biol. 13, 963–975.
24. Anagnostopoulou, A., Vultur, A., Arulanandam, R. et al. (2006) Differential effects of Stat3 inhibition in sparse vs confluent cells. Cancer Lett. 242, 120–132.
25. Vinken, M., Vanhaecke, T., Papeleu, P., Snykers, S., Henkens, T. and Rogiers, V. (2006) Connexins and their channels in cell growth and cell death. Cell Signal. 18, 592–600.
26. Weinstein, R.S., Merk, F.B. and Alroy, J. (1976) The structure and function of intercellular junctions in cancer. Adv. Cancer Res. 23, 23–89.
27. el-Fouly, M.H., Trosko, J.E. and Chang, C.C. (1987) Scrape-loading and dye transfer: a rapid and simple technique to study gap junctional intercellular communication. Exp. Cell Res. 168, 442–430.
28. Tomai, E., Brownell, H.L., Tufescu, T. et al. (1998) A functional assay for intercellular, junctional communication in cultured human lung carcinoma cells. Lab. Invest. 78, 639–640.
29. Brownell, H.L., Whitfield, J.F. and Raptis, L. (1997) Elimination of intercellular junctional communication requires lower Rasleu61 levels than stimulation of anchorage-independent proliferation. Cancer Detect. Prev. 21, 289–294.
30. Tomai, E., Brownell, H.L., Tufescu, T., Reid, K. and Raptis, L. (1999) Gap junctional communication in lung carcinoma cells. Lung Cancer. 23, 223–231.
31. Anagnostopoulou, A., Cao, J., Vultur, A., Firth, K.L. and Raptis, L. (2007) Examination of gap junctional, intercellular communication by in situ electroporation on two co-planar indium-tin oxide electrodes. Molecular Oncology. 1, 226–231.
Acknowledgments
The financial assistance of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Canadian Breast Cancer Research Alliance, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), and the Cancer Research Society Inc. is gratefully acknowledged. AV was the recipient of NSERC and Ontario Graduate studentships, a Queen's University Graduate Award (QGA), and a Queen's University travel grant. HB was the recipient of a studentship from the Medical Research Council of Canada and a Microbix Inc. travel award. AA was supported by a QGA and a predoctoral traineeship award from the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program (BCRP-CDMRP, Award #: W81XWH-05-1-0224). RA was the recipient of a CIHR studentship and a QGA. ET was the recipient of an NSERC studentship and an award from the Ontario Government. JC was the recipient of a postdoctoral fellowship from Queen's University. We are grateful to Dr. Erik Schaefer of Biosource Int. for numerous suggestions and valuable discussions.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2008 Humana Press
About this protocol
Cite this protocol
Raptis, L. et al. (2008). Electroporation of Adherent Cells In Situ for the Study of Signal Transduction and Gap Junctional Communication. In: Li, S. (eds) Electroporation Protocols. Methods in Molecular Biology™, vol 423. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-194-9_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-194-9_12
Publisher Name: Humana Press
Print ISBN: 978-1-58829-877-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-59745-194-9
eBook Packages: Springer Protocols