Abstract
The direct impact of microgravity exposure on male germ cells, as well as on their malignant counterparts, has not been largely studied. In previous works, we reported our findings on a cell line derived from a human seminoma lesion (TCam-2 cell line) showing that acute exposure to simulated microgravity altered microtubule orientation, induced autophagy, and modified cell metabolism stimulating ROS production. Moreover, we demonstrated that the antioxidant administration prevented both TCam-2 microgravity-induced microtubule disorientation and autophagy induction. Herein, expanding previous investigations, we report that simulated microgravity exposure for 24 h induced the appearance, at an ultrastructural level, of cell-to-cell junctional contacts that were not detectable in cells grown at 1 g. In line with this result, pan-cadherin immunofluorescence analyzed by confocal microscopy, revealed the clustering of this marker at the plasma membrane level on microgravity exposed TCam-2 cells. The upregulation of cadherin was confirmed by Western blot analyses. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the microgravity-induced ROS increase was responsible for the distribution of cadherin nearby the plasma membrane, together with beta-catenin since the administration of antioxidants prevented this microgravity-dependent phenomenon. These results shed new light on the microgravity-induced modifications of the cell adhesive behavior and highlight the role of ROS as microgravity activated signal molecules.
Highlights
Nowadays, space exploration is a challenge that makes it necessary to deal with the hostile environment outside the Earth
This occurs if compared with cells cultured at 1 g, in which the cell-to-cell contacts were characterized by membrane protrusions that are much more thin and similar to filopodia (Figure 1A,B)
Even in confluent cells, which appeared as an epithelial-like sheet, the random positioning machine (RPM) condition caused an evident modification of the cell-to-cell contact area (Figure 1G) that appeared, at high magnification, to be formed by complex membrane interdigitations (Figure 1H), whereas in cells cultured at 1 g the cell-to-cell interface appeared mostly linear (Figure 1E,F)
Summary
This stimulated the birth of a novel field of scientific research called “Space biology”. A consistent part of this area of research has addressed the study of the role of gravitational forces in biological processes, studying the effects of weightlessness, real or simulated, on living systems In this way, “Space biology” insights allowed us to obtain an impressive mass. Sci. 2020, 10, 8289 of knowledge revealing the tight interplay among mechanical forces, cell metabolism, and cell behavior [1,2,3,4], as well as to put a spotlight on the importance of physical forces on cell physiology
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