TY - JOUR
T1 - DMSO Chemically Alters Cell Membranes to Slow Exocytosis and Increase the Fraction of Partial Transmitter Released
AU - Majdi, Soodabeh
AU - Najafinobar, Neda
AU - Dunevall, Johan
AU - Lovric, Jelena
AU - Ewing, Andrew G.
N1 - Funding Information:
The European Research Council (Advanced Grant), Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, the Swedish Research Council (VR), and the National Institutes of Health are acknowledged for financial support.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
PY - 2017/10/5
Y1 - 2017/10/5
N2 - Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) is frequently used as a solvent in biological studies and as a vehicle for drug therapy; but the side effects of DMSO, especially on the cell environment, are not well understood, and controls with DMSO are not neutral at higher concentrations. Herein, electrochemical measurement techniques are applied to show that DMSO increases exocytotic neurotransmitter release, while leaving vesicular contents unchanged. In addition, the kinetics of release from DMSO-treated cells are faster than that of untreated ones. The results suggest that DMSO has a significant influence on the chemistry of the cell membrane, leading to alteration of exocytosis. A speculative chemical mechanism of the effect on the fusion pore during exocytosis is presented.
AB - Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) is frequently used as a solvent in biological studies and as a vehicle for drug therapy; but the side effects of DMSO, especially on the cell environment, are not well understood, and controls with DMSO are not neutral at higher concentrations. Herein, electrochemical measurement techniques are applied to show that DMSO increases exocytotic neurotransmitter release, while leaving vesicular contents unchanged. In addition, the kinetics of release from DMSO-treated cells are faster than that of untreated ones. The results suggest that DMSO has a significant influence on the chemistry of the cell membrane, leading to alteration of exocytosis. A speculative chemical mechanism of the effect on the fusion pore during exocytosis is presented.
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U2 - 10.1002/cbic.201700410
DO - 10.1002/cbic.201700410
M3 - Article
C2 - 28834067
AN - SCOPUS:85030626733
SN - 1439-4227
VL - 18
SP - 1898
EP - 1902
JO - ChemBioChem
JF - ChemBioChem
IS - 19
ER -