FTIR spectroscopic study on apoptosis of lung cancer cell line A549 induced by arsenic trioxide

Lung cancer threatens human health seriously. Arsenic trioxide (ATO) can induce lung cancer cells apoptosis, but its mechanism is uncertain till now. FTIR spectroscopy has the ability of detecting biomolecular changes. In this study, FTIR spectroscopy was used to investigate A549 cells apoptosis induced by ATO. The A1640/A1531, A1531/A972, A972/A1743, A1395/A1452 and A1081/A1229 ratios were different between the test group and the contrast group. In addition, curve fitting in the 2975–2830 cm⁻¹ and 1130–1000 cm⁻¹ regions also showed differences between the test group and the contrast group. These differences indicated that nucleic acids, lipids, proteins and carbohydrates etc. changed during apoptosis. The results showed that FTIR spectroscopy could detect biomolecules’ changes during A549 cells apoptosis induced by ATO, suggesting FTIR spectroscopy may be a useful tool for apoptosis research.