Idgut epithelial cells is discussed [35?9], it is generally accepted that valinomycin acts independently of receptor(s) as a potassium ionophore leading to ion leakage and inducing cytotoxic effects in vivo and in vitro [40?42]. Therefore we used valinomycin as cell-damaging control and could demonstrate that this K+ ionophore, in contrast to Cry1Ab, exerts cytotoxic effects. The obvious changes in cell index are consistent with reduction in cell viability and with the observed decrease in TEER after 48 h. Consistent with the results of our previous study [21]. The activity 10457188 of the mitochondrial dehydrogenases indicated by WST-1 conversion is the most sensitive parameter of viability. However, regarding possible Cry1Ab effects, no cytotoxic influence was found neither by the use of the endpoint assays nor by real-time monitoring. Interestingly, we observed a temporary increase in delta cell index of Cry1Ab treated cells in comparison to control cells during the first 17 hours. This effect may be associated with stress induced remodelling of cytoskeleton, a suggestion that is further supported by our proteomic analysis. However, this effect was reversible and for the precise interpretation of these real-time data further studies should be performed by simultaneous monitoring of cellular morphological changes. In the present in vitro approach we have also included a molecular proteomic profiling technique (2-DE) for Cry1Ab target profiling and mechanism-based Title Loaded From File safety evaluation. Only few proteins were found to be significantly modulated. The identified proteins are multifunctional 1315463 and involved in important cellular processes as discussed in the following section.Impact of Cry1Ab on Porcine Intestinal CellsTable 1. List of identified differentially expressed proteins in Cry1Ab treated IPEC-J2 cells.pIa Mass (Da)a 5.8 71065 5.7 54394 6.1 49073 Accession no.b gi 178056524 gi 227430407 gi 335310367 Average ratioc No. of matched Peptide ( PC)d +1.31 21.31 21.37 20 (36) 25 (48) 23 (47)Identified Protein Heat shock 70 kD protein Keratin, type II, cytoskeletal 8 Heterologenous nuclear ribonukleoprotein H2-likea)No. 1 2Score 102 236Theoretical isoelectric point (pI). Accession number in NCBI database. c) Average ratio (Cry1Ab treated/non-treated control) indicates the value derived from the normalized spot volume standardized against the intra-gel standard provided by DeCyder software analysis. d) Peptide coverage, the amount of the identified proteins that the peptides covered. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0067079.tb)Heat shock proteins like Hsp70 are cellular chaperone proteins that are required for essential cellular functions, such as, protein folding and assembly or reassembly. Among the different families of these proteins, the Hsp70-family consists of at least eight highly homologous members (reviewed by Tavaria et al. [43] and Daugaard et al. [44]). It has been reported, that the expression of the two major members, the constitutive Hsp70c and the inducible Hsp70 expression could be enhanced in response to different stress conditions [45?7]. Previously these stress proteins have been used to monitor the impact of environmental factors on various animal species (reviewed by Mukhopadhyay et al. [48]), including pig [49] as well as in in-vitro models [50]. Furthermore, Hsp70 is known to inhibit the aggregation of nascent or misfolded proteins to regulate protein degradation and to help in translocation of proteins between different cellular Title Loaded From File compar.Idgut epithelial cells is discussed [35?9], it is generally accepted that valinomycin acts independently of receptor(s) as a potassium ionophore leading to ion leakage and inducing cytotoxic effects in vivo and in vitro [40?42]. Therefore we used valinomycin as cell-damaging control and could demonstrate that this K+ ionophore, in contrast to Cry1Ab, exerts cytotoxic effects. The obvious changes in cell index are consistent with reduction in cell viability and with the observed decrease in TEER after 48 h. Consistent with the results of our previous study [21]. The activity 10457188 of the mitochondrial dehydrogenases indicated by WST-1 conversion is the most sensitive parameter of viability. However, regarding possible Cry1Ab effects, no cytotoxic influence was found neither by the use of the endpoint assays nor by real-time monitoring. Interestingly, we observed a temporary increase in delta cell index of Cry1Ab treated cells in comparison to control cells during the first 17 hours. This effect may be associated with stress induced remodelling of cytoskeleton, a suggestion that is further supported by our proteomic analysis. However, this effect was reversible and for the precise interpretation of these real-time data further studies should be performed by simultaneous monitoring of cellular morphological changes. In the present in vitro approach we have also included a molecular proteomic profiling technique (2-DE) for Cry1Ab target profiling and mechanism-based safety evaluation. Only few proteins were found to be significantly modulated. The identified proteins are multifunctional 1315463 and involved in important cellular processes as discussed in the following section.Impact of Cry1Ab on Porcine Intestinal CellsTable 1. List of identified differentially expressed proteins in Cry1Ab treated IPEC-J2 cells.pIa Mass (Da)a 5.8 71065 5.7 54394 6.1 49073 Accession no.b gi 178056524 gi 227430407 gi 335310367 Average ratioc No. of matched Peptide ( PC)d +1.31 21.31 21.37 20 (36) 25 (48) 23 (47)Identified Protein Heat shock 70 kD protein Keratin, type II, cytoskeletal 8 Heterologenous nuclear ribonukleoprotein H2-likea)No. 1 2Score 102 236Theoretical isoelectric point (pI). Accession number in NCBI database. c) Average ratio (Cry1Ab treated/non-treated control) indicates the value derived from the normalized spot volume standardized against the intra-gel standard provided by DeCyder software analysis. d) Peptide coverage, the amount of the identified proteins that the peptides covered. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0067079.tb)Heat shock proteins like Hsp70 are cellular chaperone proteins that are required for essential cellular functions, such as, protein folding and assembly or reassembly. Among the different families of these proteins, the Hsp70-family consists of at least eight highly homologous members (reviewed by Tavaria et al. [43] and Daugaard et al. [44]). It has been reported, that the expression of the two major members, the constitutive Hsp70c and the inducible Hsp70 expression could be enhanced in response to different stress conditions [45?7]. Previously these stress proteins have been used to monitor the impact of environmental factors on various animal species (reviewed by Mukhopadhyay et al. [48]), including pig [49] as well as in in-vitro models [50]. Furthermore, Hsp70 is known to inhibit the aggregation of nascent or misfolded proteins to regulate protein degradation and to help in translocation of proteins between different cellular compar.