Cellular Temperature Changes with Irreversibly Arrested Cell Cycle by Ionizing Irradiation

We often measure our body temperature using a thermometer when we are not feeling well. Body temperature is obviously one of the important parameters to monitor whether our health condition is fine or not. Then, could we obtain information of cellular conditions by monitoring cellular temperature? To understand the metabolic change in the cells with irreversibly arrested cell cycle causing by ionizing irradiation, we have investigated cellular temperature inside of the senescence-like cells using a chemical thermoprobe for fluorescence ratio. We are getting experimental results of cellular temperature which is not what we expected. In this review, the issue of cellular temperature, its distribution in a cell and heat flows are first described from a point of view of a thermodynamic non-equilibrium open system. Then we show our experimental evidence that the cellular temperature was significantly raised in the senescence-like cells. The metabolic change seen through the temperature change is discussed. Finally, we propose our theoretical method to model the heat flow to create self-organized functional structures in the cell by solving the thermal diffusion equations.