Skin-safe nanophotosensitizers with highly-controlled synthesized polydopamine shell for synergetic chemo-photodynamic therapy.

Although photodynamic therapy (PDT) has been extensively studied as an established modality of cancer treatment, it still suffers from a few clinical limitations, such as skin phototoxicity and tumor hypoxia. To circumvent these hurdles, hollow silica mesoporous nanoparticles (HMSNs) loaded with photosensitizers were employed as the nanoplatform to construct multifunctional nanoparticles (NPs). Specifically, an ultra-uniform polydopamine (PDA) shell was highly controlled grown around HMSNs by photogenerated outwards-diffused O, followed by conjugation of folic acid-poly(ethylene glycol) and chelation of Fe ions.

Luminescent ruthenium(II)-containing metallopolymers with different ligands: synthesis and application as oxygen nanosensor for hypoxia imaging.

A series of Ru(II)-containing metallopolymers with different polypyridyl complexes, namely [Ru(N^N)(L)](PF) (L = bipyridine-branched polymer; N^N = bpy: 2,2'-bipyridine (Ru 1); phen: 1,10-phenanthroline (Ru 2); dpp: 4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline (Ru 3)), were synthesized with the motive that adjusting π-conjugation length of ligands might produce competent luminescent oxygen probes. The three hydrophobic metallopolymers were studied with H NMR, UV-Vis absorption, and emission spectroscopy, and then were utilized to prepare biocompatible nanoparticles (NPs) via a nanoprecipitation method. Luminescent properties of the NPs were investigated against dissolved oxygen by steady-state and time-resolved spectroscopy respectively.

Facile synthesis of fluorinated nanophotosensitizers with self-supplied oxygen for efficient photodynamic therapy.

Tumor hypoxia severely reduces the efficiency of photodynamic therapy (PDT) through the insufficient supply of oxygen. In this work, we reported on a design of fluorinated nanophotosensitizers (NPSs) prepared by a facile reprecipitation-encapsulation method, with the aim of addressing the issue of hypoxia. The fluorinated NPSs consisted of a hybrid particle core of perfluorosiloxane-polystyrene, doped with a fluorinated photosensitizer, and a biocompatible poly-l-lysine shell.

Highly Stable and Luminescent Oxygen Nanosensor Based on Ruthenium-Containing Metallopolymer for Real-Time Imaging of Intracellular Oxygenation.

Metal complex-based luminescent oxygen nanosensors have been intensively studied for biomedical applications. In terms of monitoring dynamics of intracellular oxygen, however, high-quality nanosensors are still badly needed, because of stringent requirements on stability, biocompatibility and luminescence intensity, aside from oxygen sensitivity. In this paper, we reported a type of highly luminescent and stable oxygen nanosensors prepared from metallopolymer.

A fluorescent nanoprobe for real-time monitoring of intracellular singlet oxygen during photodynamic therapy.

Sensing of intracellular singlet oxygen (O) is required in order to optimize photodynamic therapy (PDT). An optical nanoprobe is reported here for the optical determination of intracellular O. The probe consists of a porous particle core doped with the commercial O probe 1,3-diphenylisobenzofuran (DPBF) and a layer of poly-L-lysine.

Sensitive detection of PDT-induced cell damages with luminescent oxygen nanosensors.

In this work luminescent nanosensors specifically created for intracellular oxygen (ic-O) were utilized to assess photodynamic therapy (PDT) -induced cell damages. Firstly, ic-O was demonstrated to be consumed much faster than extracellular O with respective O nanosensors. Using the ic-O nanosensors, PDT-treated cells with different degree of impairment were then resolved according to the oxygen consumption rate (OCR).

Synthesis and optimization of ZnPc-loaded biocompatible nanoparticles for efficient photodynamic therapy.

Zinc(ii) phthalocyanine (ZnPc) is a promising photosensitizer for PDT but suffers from aggregation in a physiological aqueous environment. In this paper, a class of biocompatible polymeric nanoparticles (NPs) was prepared to encapsulate ZnPc molecules. Mostly because of the planar structure, ZnPc molecules were difficult to be encapsulated into the polymeric NPs unless further coated with a thick poly-l-lysine (PLL) layer.

A Pyrene@Micelle Sensor for Fluorescent Oxygen Sensing.

For most fluorescent oxygen sensors developed today, their fabrication process is either time-consuming or needs specialized knowledge. In this work, a robust fluorescent oxygen sensor is facilely constructed by dissolving pyrene molecules into CTAB aqueous solution. The as-prepared pyrene@micelle sensors have submicron-sized diameter, and the concentration of utilized pyrene can be reduced as low as 0.

Targetable phosphorescent oxygen nanosensors for the assessment of tumor mitochondrial dysfunction by monitoring the respiratory activity.

Cellular respiration is a worthwhile criterion to evaluate mitochondrial dysfunction by measuring the dissolved oxygen. However, most of the existing sensing strategies merely report extracellular (ec-) or intracellular (ic-) O2 rather than intramitochondrial (im-) O2 . Herein we present a method to assess tumor mitochondrial dysfunction with three phosphorescent nanosensors, which respond to ec-, ic-, and im-O2 .

Poly-l-lysine assisted synthesis of core-shell nanoparticles and conjugation with triphenylphosphonium to target mitochondria.

In this paper, we report a facile route to synthesize mitochondria-targeted core-shell nanoparticles (NPs). Firstly, PLL-coated NPs are prepared by a one-step reprecipitation-encapsulation method assisted by positively charged poly-l-lysine (PLL). The effect of the molecular weight of PLL on the formation of particles is studied in terms of morphology, size and zeta potential, and medium-sized PLL (MH-PLL) is proved to be the optimum one.

[The effect of temperature on the 4f5d emission of Pr3+ in the Pr3+-doped SrAl12O19].

The emission spectra of SrAl12O19 : Pr3+ at temperature from 308 to 483 K were investigated under vacuum ultraviolet excitation. Both the dipole-forbidden 4f2 --> 4f2 transition and the dipole-allowed 4f5d --> 4f2 transitions were observed. The intensity of the 4f5d --> 4f2 emission relative to that of the 4f2 --> 4f2 emission increased with increasing temperature.

[Spectrum and synthesis of rare earth activated nanoparticle].

La2O3: Eu(3+) nanoparticles were prepared by Gly assistant combustion synthesis with the sizes from 12-28 nm, and a characterization of XRD was done. Spectral properties of the nanoparticles were compared with the bulk. High resolution spectra were measured.