Mesoporous organosilica nanoparticles (PHT-PMO) have been prepared from an octa-triethoxysilylated Zn phthalocyanine precursor and showed powerful NIR photodynamic efficiency and siRNA photochemical internalization.
Photosensitizing nanogels were obtained
through a surfactant-free
single-step protocol by using a porphyrin-based cross-linker for stabilizing
self-assembled nanosized aggregates of thermoresponsive copolymers.
Nanogels with varying amounts of porphyrin retained the singlet oxygen
generation ability of the porphyrin core and were also capable of
inducing temperature increase upon irradiation at 635 nm. Photoinduced
killing efficiency was tested against three cell lines: human breast
adenocarcinoma (MDA-MB-231 and MCF7) and pancreatic adenocarcinoma
(AsPC-1) cells, and a predominant photodynamic mechanism at 450 nm
and a mixed photodynamic and photothermal effect at 635 nm was observed.
This innovative access to photosensitizing nanogels is a proof of
concept, and opens new perspectives toward the preparation of optimized
nanophotosensitizers.
In line with current efforts to direct PDT photosensitizers to specific organelles such as mitochondria, a triphenylphosphonium-tetrasubstituted Zn phthalocyanine was designed, taking into account synthetic constraints. Triphenylphosphonium moieties were successfully introduced on alkyl bromide substituents on a pre-formed phthalocyanine. Photophysical and photochemical measurements showed that the photoproperties of the Zn phthalocyanine core were not affected by the triphenylphosphonium groups. Biological investigations demonstrated the dark innocuousness of the phthalocyanine up to 1 [Formula: see text]M, a concentration that exhibited a powerful phototoxicity. Cell death was confirmed to be photodynamically induced thanks to reactive oxygen species detection experiments. Nonetheless, the triphenylphosphonium moieties did not promote the accumulation of the phthalocyanine in mitochondria as significantly as expected.
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