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Previous studies have shown that a cationic water-soluble pyridinium zinc phthalocyanine (PPC) is a powerful photosensitizer that is able to inactivate Escherichia coli. In the current work incubation of E. coli cells with PPC in the dark caused alterations in the outer membrane permeability barrier of the cells, rendering the bacteria much more sensitive to hydrophobic compounds, with little effect seen with hydrophilic compounds. Addition of Mg 2؉ to the medium prior to incubation of the cells with PPC prevented these alterations in the outer membrane permeability barrier. The presence of Mg 2؉ in the medium also prevented the photoinactivation of E. coli cells with PPC. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that PPC gains access across the outer membrane of E. coli cells via the self-promoted uptake pathway, a mechanism of uptake postulated for the uptake of other cationic compounds across the outer membranes of gram-negative bacteria.

m-Tetra(hydroxyphenyl)chlorin (m-THPC, Foscan, Temoporfin) has an unusually high photodynamic efficacy which cannot be explained by its photochemical properties alone. In vivo interactions are therefore of critical importance in determining this high potency. The pharmacokinetics of m-THPC in a rat tumour model was determined using 14 C m-THPC in an LSBD 1 fibrosarcoma implanted into BDIX rats. The photodynamic therapy (PDT) efficacy was determined at different drug administrations to light intervals and correlated with the tumour and plasma pharmacokinetic data. The plasma pharmacokinetics of m-THPC can be interpreted by compartmental analysis as having three half-lives of 0.46, 6.91 and 82.5 h, with a small initial volume of distribution, suggesting retention in the vascular compartment. Tissues of the reticuloendothelial system showed high accumulation of m-THPC, particularly the liver. PDT efficacy of m-THPC over the same time course seemed to exhibit two peaks of activity (2 and 24 h), in terms of tumour growth delay with the peak at 24 h postinjection correlating to the maximum tumour concentration. Investigation on tumour cells isolated from m-THPC-treated tumours suggested that the peak PDT activity at 2 h represents an effect on the vasculature while the peak at 24 h shows a more direct response. These results indicate that the in vivo PDT effect of m-THPC occurs via several mechanisms. British Journal of Cancer (2003) Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is becoming accepted as an alternative to conventional cancer treatments for certain indications and other nononcological conditions. It is based on a tumour accumulation of a photosensitiser, which, when activated by light, results in tumour destruction via reactive oxygen species (Ochsner, 1997). The selectivity of PDT relies upon the targeting of the light delivery in combination with the accumulation/retention of the photosensitiser in malignant tissue. The time interval between photosensitiser administration and light delivery is crucial for the optimal clinical efficacy of PDT. The distribution of the photosensitiser both in the tumour as a whole and throughout the tumour compartments is dependent on this interval as well as in vivo interactions that affect photosensitiser aggregation, delivery and uptake (Boyle and Dolphin, 1996). m-Tetra (hydroxyphenyl)chlorin (m-THPC), a second-generation photosensitiser, has already been shown to be more potent than Photofrin (PII). It has been suggested that it is up to 200 times more powerful (Van Geel et al, 1995;Ball et al, 1999). This figure takes into account the drug dose required (0.15 mg kg À1 compared to 10 mg kg À1 for PII) and the lower light doses necessary (30 J cm À1 rather than 150 J cm À1 ) to produce similar PDT results. However, the reason for this effectiveness remains unresolved even considering the advantageous photoproperties of increased molar absorption coefficient and a favourable shift in the wavelength maximum (652 nm rather than 630 nm) (Bonnett et al, 1989).Preclinical studies have alread...

We have synthesized a series of symmetrical phenothiazines in which the methyl groups of methylene blue have been substituted by longer alkyl chains. Intrinsic photosensitizing ability was not altered by increasing the chain length. However, in vitro phototoxicity after 2 h incubation of RIF‐1 murine fibrosarcoma cells followed the order n‐propyl > n‐pentyl > n‐butyl > n‐hexyl > ethyl > methyl, with ethyl and n‐propyl analogues being 14‐ and 130‐fold more phototoxic than methylene blue, respectively. All analogues also had an improved ratio of phototoxicity : dark toxicity (4:1 to 27:1) compared with methylene blue (3:1). Phototoxicity did not correlate with cellular phenothiazine levels, suggesting that the site of subcellular localization may be more important. After 2 h incubation of RIF‐1 cells with the phototoxicity LD50 concentration, methylene blue and all analogues were observed to be localized in the lysosomes by fluorescence microscopy. On exposure to light, methylene blue relocalized to the nucleus, the ethyl analogue did not relocalize, whereas the more phototoxic n‐propyl –n‐hexyl analogues relocalized to the mitochondria. Relocalization to the mitochondria was associated with an octanol : buffer partition coefficient ≥ 1. Therefore, the longer‐chain analogues of methylene blue show significantly improved phototoxicity in vitro and, in addition, are expected to avoid the problems of mutagenicity associated with the nuclear localization of methylene blue.

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