Mechanism toward Turn-on of Polysaccharide-Porphyrin Complexes for Fluorescence Probes and Photosensitizers in Photodynamic Therapy in Living Cells.

β-(1,3-1,6)-D-Glucan, λ-carrageenan, tamarind gum, and pullulan can dissolve various porphyrin derivatives via the formation of complexes in water using a high-speed vibration milling method. The aqueous solutions of the resulting complexes exhibit long-term stability. Despite the adverse effects of the self-quenching process, notable fluorescence and improved photodynamic activity of the polysaccharide-complexed porphyrin derivatives were observed in the presence of liposomes, micelles, cyclodextrins, and HeLa cells.

Different stabilities of liposomes containing saturated and unsaturated lipids toward the addition of cyclodextrins.

Liposomes composed of unsaturated lipids were more stable than those containing saturated lipids toward DMe-β-CDx, DMe-α-CDx and DMe-β-CDx. The Hill coefficient values (n) indicated that the saturated lipid·DMe-CDx complexes had stoichiometric ratios in the range of 1 : 3-1 : 4, while the unsaturated lipid·DMe-CDx complexes had ratios in the range of 1 : 1.5-1 : 3.