Alterations in membrane lipid dynamics of leukemic cells undergoing growth arrest and differentiation: Dependency on the inducing agent

The effect of various differentiation inducers on membrane cell dynamics was studied using HL-60 and K562 leukemic cell lines. Membrane lipid dynamics was measured by the steady-state fluorescence polarization (P) method utilizing either 1,6-diphenyl-1,3,5-hexatriene (DPH) or the trimethyl ammonium derivative of DPH (TMA-DPH), which ascertains anchorage of the label to the membrane-water-lipid interface. Decrease in membrane microfluidity was observed in HL-60 cells undergoing differentiation into macrophages by 1,25- dihydroxyvitamin D₃ and by K562 cells induced to differentiate by DMSO. Sodium butyrate caused an increase in membrane fluidity in K562 cells undergoing differentiation into erythroid-like cells while in HL-60 cells a dual effect was observed. At 0.4 mM concentration, in which the cells were induced to differentiate along the monocyte pathway, a decrease in membrane fluidity was observed, while at 1 mM concentration an increase in membrane fluidity occurred. Interferon-γ (IFN-γ) induced an increase in membrane fluidity in both cell lines. Using HL-60 cells fluorescently labeled by TMA- DPH, similar results indicating fluidization of the membrane following IFN- γ treatment were obtained. Advanced fluorescence lifetime measurements, evaluated either by phase modulation spectrofluorometry or by single photon correlation fluorometry confirmed that the decrease in fluorescence polarization by IFN-γ resulted from membrane fluidization and not from elongation of the probe's excited state lifetime. It is suggested that the inducer mode of action, and not the differentiation route, determine the outcome of changes in membrane microviscosity.