Effect of changing the alternating electric current frequency on the viability of human liver cancer cell line (HEPG2)

Moataz M. Fahmy; Sohier M. El-Kholey; Seham Elabd; Mamdouh M. Shawki; Moataz M. Fahmy; Sohier M. El-Kholey; Seham Elabd; Mamdouh M. Shawki

doi:10.3934/biophy.2025001

AIMS Biophysics

2025, Volume 12, Issue 1: 1-13. doi: 10.3934/biophy.2025001

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Research article

Effect of changing the alternating electric current frequency on the viability of human liver cancer cell line (HEPG2)

1.
Medical Biophysics Department, Medical Research Institute, Alexandria University, Alexandria City, Egypt
2.
Physiology Department, Medical Research Institute, Alexandria University, Alexandria City, Egypt

Received: 14 October 2024 Revised: 01 December 2024 Accepted: 12 December 2024 Published: 18 December 2024

Different effects of alternating electric currents (AC) on biological materials have been observed depending on the frequency used. Extremely low frequencies (less than 1 KHz) produce electro-endocytosis at 500 Hz because of membrane depolarization. Intermediate frequencies coincide with tiny particle alignments and cell rotations (also known as the pearl chain effect), thus leading to the tumor-treating fields at 100–300 KHz. High frequencies (i.e., above several MHz) cause tissue heating to predominate due to the dielectric losses. This study investigates how exposure to a wide range of AC electric field frequencies affects the permeability and viability of hepatocellular carcinoma HEPG2 cells. With two silver/silver chloride electrodes, the cells were exposed to a square pulse with a magnitude of 0.4 V/cm at various frequencies between 1 Hz and 1 MHz. A dielectric properties measurement, flow cytometry analysis, fluorescent microscopy, and a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) gene expression analysis were performed. The results showed that all the exposed groups experienced a great reduction in the normal cells, with a clear increase in necrosis and apoptosis compared to the control group. It was noticed that the anti-tumoral effect of the examined frequency range was maximum at 10 KHz and 100 KHz. The permeability was increased in the groups exposed to frequencies above 1 kHz. The viability and permeability results were correlated to the electric relative permittivity, electric conductivity, and gene expression of cyclins A, B, and E.
- electric field frequency,
- hepatocellular carcinoma HEPG2,
- dielectric properties,
- cell viability,
- cell permeability
Citation: Moataz M. Fahmy, Sohier M. El-Kholey, Seham Elabd, Mamdouh M. Shawki. Effect of changing the alternating electric current frequency on the viability of human liver cancer cell line (HEPG2)[J]. AIMS Biophysics, 2025, 12(1): 1-13. doi: 10.3934/biophy.2025001

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Abstract

Different effects of alternating electric currents (AC) on biological materials have been observed depending on the frequency used. Extremely low frequencies (less than 1 KHz) produce electro-endocytosis at 500 Hz because of membrane depolarization. Intermediate frequencies coincide with tiny particle alignments and cell rotations (also known as the pearl chain effect), thus leading to the tumor-treating fields at 100–300 KHz. High frequencies (i.e., above several MHz) cause tissue heating to predominate due to the dielectric losses. This study investigates how exposure to a wide range of AC electric field frequencies affects the permeability and viability of hepatocellular carcinoma HEPG2 cells. With two silver/silver chloride electrodes, the cells were exposed to a square pulse with a magnitude of 0.4 V/cm at various frequencies between 1 Hz and 1 MHz. A dielectric properties measurement, flow cytometry analysis, fluorescent microscopy, and a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) gene expression analysis were performed. The results showed that all the exposed groups experienced a great reduction in the normal cells, with a clear increase in necrosis and apoptosis compared to the control group. It was noticed that the anti-tumoral effect of the examined frequency range was maximum at 10 KHz and 100 KHz. The permeability was increased in the groups exposed to frequencies above 1 kHz. The viability and permeability results were correlated to the electric relative permittivity, electric conductivity, and gene expression of cyclins A, B, and E.

Conflict of interest

All authors declare no conflicts of interest in this paper.

Author contributions

Moataz M. Fahmy, Sohier M. El-Kholey, Seham Elabd, and Mamdouh M. Shawki conceived the idea, put the general design of the research, collected literature data, preparing tables and figures, writing the first draft and reviewing the final manuscript. Mamdouh M. Shawki and Moataz M. Fahmy performed experiment related to electricity. Seham Elabd performed cellular experiments. Mamdouh M. Shawki and Sohier M. El-Kholey general administration and contributed to the reviewing process.

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