A.C. BOBOCEA*, E.T. FERTIG*, MIHAELA PISLEA*, TEOFILA SEREMET*, GYÖNGYVÉR KATONA**, MAGDALENA MOCANU*, I.O. DOAGĂ***, E. RADU****, JUDIT HORVÁTH*****, E. TANOS*****, L. KATONA*, EVA KATONA*

*Department of Biophysics, **Department of Medical Biochemistry, ****Department of Molecular and Cellular Medicine, Medical Faculty, and ***Department of Biophysics, Dentistry Faculty, “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmaceutics, Bucharest, Romania

*****LASEUROPA CO., Budapest, Hungary

Abstract. We investigated the effects of low power 830 nm near-infrared laser light and of the highly toxic environmental pollutant cadmium (Cd++) on cultured human peripheral blood lymphocytes and acute leukemia Jurkat T cells viability, proliferation and preferred death form. Our data indicate that Cd++ induces decrease in viability and survival / proliferation of both human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and of Jurkat cells in a concentration and exposure time dependent manner. The effects are more substantial in serum starvation or growth factor lack caused stress conditions. Cd++ induces either apoptosis or necrosis in human T cells depending on the cadmium concentration, duration of exposure, and cells microenvironment. At low concentrations of cadmium, exposed cells die exclusively / prevailingly by apoptosis, while at increasing cadmium concentrations demise occurs both by apoptosis and necrosis, necrotic death becoming dominant at high concentrations of cadmium in stress conditions. The 830 nm laser light decreases PBMC viability in growth factor lack induced stress conditions, and impedes cell death in presence of growth factors. Low level near infrared laser irradiation enhances cadmium effects in lack of growth factors, but offers some protection to human PBMC in presence of growth factors.
Key words: AlGaInP/GaAs laser, heavy metal pollution, apoptosis, necrosis.

Corresponding author’s e-mail: eva_katona@yahoo.com

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