FTIR microspectroscopic study of gastric cancer AGS cells apoptosis induced by As2O3

[Display omitted] •AGS cells apoptosis induced by As2O3 was investigated.•IR spectra showed significant changes in lipids content and the proteins and DNA structure.•Peak-area ratios indicated obvious changes in biomacromolecules.•PCA and curve fitting further explored the changes in nucleic acids.•The study provided new insights into As2O3-induced gastric cancer cells apoptosis. As2O3 has shown significant anti-gastric cancer effects, but the mechanism is still unclear. Thus, biomacromolecular changes induced by As2O3 were investigated by using human gastric cancer AGS cells as the model. Flow cytometry results confirmed that As2O3 induced AGS cells apoptosis. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) microspectroscopy detected biomacromolecular changes during As2O3-induced AGS cells apoptosis sensitively: IR spectra showed significant changes in the lipids content and the proteins and DNA structure. Peak-area ratios indicated obvious changes in the lipids and DNA content and the proteins structure, while also showing a relatively good linear relationship between A1733/A969 and the apoptosis rate. PCA exhibited significant alteration in nucleic acids while curve fitting further revealed the changes in nucleic acids and proteins. On the whole, our study explored As2O3-induced gastric cancer cells apoptosis in depth on the basis of analyzing biomacromolecular changes, in addition, it also suggested FTIR microspectroscopy to be possibly useful in the research of apoptosis.