Dynamic surface tensiometry of tissues using Langmuir films

Langmuir monolayers are useful models of biomembranes as they allow simulation of biological conditions and rigorous thermodynamic analysis. This technique was used to characterize tissues at body temperature for the first time in our study. The organs studied include liver, kidney, stomach, testis, heart and brain from goat and certain human cancerous as well as their corresponding normal biopsies to reveal the potential of the tissue monolayer technique. Monolayers were formed on the surface of deionized water by spreading monolayer amounts of the tissue homogenates. The parameters calculated were minimum surface tension, relative lift off area, relative limiting area, compressibility and hysteresis area. Our results reveal that the parameters can differentiate between tissues obtained from different organs and were statistically significant using one-way ANOVA and Newman Keul's test (P < 0.05). For example goat's stomach tissue had the lowest hysteresis area (ΔG) value (27.6 μJ) whereas brain ΔG value was nine folds higher than stomach value. Brain had the lowest minimum surface tension of 30.3 ± 1.0 mN/m whereas stomach had a value of 40.5 ± 0.2 mN/m. Interestingly, the ΔG values of human normal neck and esophageal tissues were 3.4 and 3.2 folds greater than that of their respective cancer tissues whereas the ΔG values of vulval and breast cancer tissues were 4.6 and 4 folds greater than that of their respective normal tissues. While the γmin values of neck cancer tissue showed 95% increase from normal tissue values, those of vulval and breast cancer tissues were 46 and 50% less compared to their respective normal tissue values. Though all the surface tensiometric parameters showed significant changes, minimum surface tension and hysteresis area were the most sensitive indicators of tissue types and diseased states. Further, the effects of therapeutics could also be monitored by this technique. This is evidenced by the post-radiotherapy tissue isotherms of neck and vulval cancers, where clinical radio-sensitivity was associated with a shift in the tensiometry towards their respective normal isotherms. The small sample amounts required, precision of the technique, very low within group variability, organ specificity and sensitivity to detect changes in diseased states make it a promising tool for prognostic evaluation of diseased states and monitoring effects of therapeutics. Further research is warranted in this promising and hitherto unexplored field of tissue tensiometry.