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Microscopic Detection of Thermogenesis in a Single HeLa Cell

Madoka Suzuki ^*, Vadim Tseeb , Kotaro Oyama  and Shin'ichi Ishiwata ^* 

^* Consolidated Research Institute for Advanced Science and Medical Care, and Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan

Correspondence: Address reprint requests and inquiries to Shin'ichi Ishiwata, E-mail: ishiwata{at}waseda.jp.

We report here the technique for detection and measurement of the temperature changes in single cells using a recently devised microthermometer (a glass micropipette filled with the thermosensitive fluorescent dye Europium (III) thenoyltrifluoroacetonate trihydrate). We found that the heat production in a single HeLa cell occurred with some time delay after the ionomycin-induced Ca²⁺ influx from the extracellular space. The time delay inversely depended on extracellular [Ca²⁺], and the increase in temperature was suppressed when Ca²⁺-ATPases were blocked by thapsigargin. These observations strongly suggest that the enzymatic activity of Ca²⁺-ATPases in endoplasmic reticulum leads to the heat production. This study has therefore paved the way for studying the thermogenesis at the single-cell level.