EVALUATION OF PEROXIDATION STRESS IN CELLS USING ELECTROCHEMICAL PEROXIDATION AND REAL-TIME HEADSPACE SELECTED ION FLOW TUBE MASS SPECTROMETRY

Abstract

Peroxid oxidation of lipids of membranes may cause release of different volatile compounds (VOCs) [1]. As a result of this, appearance of such VOCs in plasma, breath, saliva may act a biomarker of diseases in which the molecular aetiology increased ‘oxidative stress’ of cells. We commenced to study mechanisms of production of volatile metabolites using real-time quantification of released volatiles in defined in-vitro models of processes leading to damage of cell membranes. Volatile aldehydes produced during lipid peroxidation of cell membrane, are highly unstable. Selected ion flow tube mass spectrometry (SIFT-MS) is a technique that allows rapid, precise quantification of volatile compounds [2-3]. Direct sampling of head space allows real-time quantification needed in order to understand fast running peroxidation processes. Electrochemistry can be used as a fast technique to generate reactive oxygen species and in combination with SIFT-MS it forms a powerful platform to study lipid peroxidation stress. Indirect electrochemical peroxidation has been applied to lung cancer cell and synthetic membrane in-vitro models and increased concentrations of C3-C7 aldehydes and malondialdehyde were observed in real-time. The results demonstrate that that peroxidative stress induced by electrochemical indirect peroxidation can be evaluated in head space using SIFT-MS.