Aguilar Cosme, J.R. orcid.org/0000-0001-7933-3905, Bryant, H.E. and Claeyssens, F. orcid.org/0000-0002-1030-939X (2019) Carbon dot-protoporphyrin IX conjugates for improved drug delivery and bioimaging. PLoS ONE, 14 (7). e0220210. ISSN 1932-6203
Abstract
Photodynamic therapy (PDT) uses photosensitisers such as protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) to target tumours via the release of toxic singlet oxygen when irradiated. The effectivity of the treatment is limited by the innate properties of the photosensitizers; they typically exhibit inefficient accumulation in target tissue and high dark toxicity. Carbon dots (CDs) are biocompatible fluorescent nanoparticles which can improve PpIX cellular uptake and solubility. In this work, we present conjugates synthesised by host-guest encapsulation (PpIX@CD) and amide cross-linking (PpIX-CD). Characterization demonstrated conjugates have a loading efficiency of 34–48% and similar singlet oxygen production to PpIX. PpIX-containing CDs showed a 2.2 to 3.7-fold decrease in dark toxicity. PpIX-CD and PpIX@CD showed equivalent light-induced toxicity to PpIX in concentrations >1 μg/ml, leading to a 3.2 to 4.1-fold increase in photo-toxicity index (PI). The less soluble fraction of cross-linked conjugates (PpIX-CD)p did not show significant difference from PpIX. Confocal light scanning microscopy demonstrated rapid intracellular uptake and accumulation of conjugates. Our results demonstrate the variations between cross-linking strategies in CD-based conjugates, highlighting their potential as carriers in drug delivery and bioimaging applications.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2019 The Authors. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Engineering (Sheffield) > Department of Materials Science and Engineering (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 08 Aug 2019 10:10 |
Last Modified: | 08 Aug 2019 10:10 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1371/journal.pone.0220210 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:149425 |