Choline and phosphatidylcholine fluorescent derivatives localization in carcinoma cells studied by laser scanning confocal fluorescence microscopy

In this study, we have shown the intracellular distribution of choline and phosphatidylcholine fluorescent derivatives in human breast carcinoma cells using confocal microscopy. The fluorescent choline derivatives ethanamimium 2-hydroxy-NN-dimethyl-N-[2N-(2,1,3-benzoxadiazol-4-amine,-N-methyl,-7-nitro)-ethyl] bromide (NBD-choline) and C-6-NBD-phosphatidylcholine (C-6-NBDPC) were used in this work. NBD-choline was easily internalised into drug sensitive MCF-7 and in multidrug resistant MCF-7/DX cells. The probe was found to localise in the endoplasmic reticulum of sensitive cells and in the Golgi of multidrug resistant cells. In contrast, very low accumulation was found in normal MCF10A cells. For C-6-NBD-PC, a similar pattern of localisation was found in tumour cells, but a significant uptake was also observed in normal cells. Unlike NBD-choline, C6-NBD-PC appears not to discriminate between normal and tumour cells. These results are consistent with previously published results showing higher levels of C-11-choline uptake in malignant lesions seen with positron emission tomography (PET) in vivo imaging. Our results suggest that using NBD-choline and laser scanning confocal fluorescence microscopy (LSCFM) could be a useful tool to study choline metabolism in cancer cells and to consolidate PET imaging findings.