Photodynamic therapy is usually used against malignant and non-malignant tumors. Nowadays, due to resistance of bacterial strains, we are looking for a new antimicrobial strategy to destroy bacteria with minimal invasive consequences. The worldwide increase in antibiotic resistance among different classes of gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria has led to the search for alternative anti-microbial therapies such as antimicrobial PDT (aPDT). Development antimicrobial technology combines a nontoxic compound, called photosensitizer, visible light of the appropriate wavelength, and the generation of reactive oxygen species. In this work, the photosensitizers TMPyP and ZnTPPS4 are investigated for photodynamic and antimicrobial photodynamic therapy. We tested these two porphyrins on two cell lines and two bacterial strains to compare effectiveness. In addition, we applied photosensitizers bound in the complex created with hp-β-cyclodextrin. The light-emitting diodes were used at the doses 0, 1, 5, 10 J/cm(2) for cells and 0, 150 J/cm(2) for bacteria. Tested concentrations for cells and microbes were from 0.5 to 50 μM and from 0.78 to 100 μM, respectively. From this work it can be concluded that TMPyP is a promising compound both in aPDT and in PDT, particularly in contrast to ZnTPPS4, which was efficient only in PDT. Furthermore, the eradication of gram-positive bacteria is possible only with higher concentrations of ZnTPPS4.
One of the promising strategies for improvement of cancer treatment is based on magnetic drug delivery systems, thus avoiding side effects of standard chemotherapies. Superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) nanoparticles have ideal properties to become a targeted magnetic drug delivery contrast probes, named theranostics. We worked with SPIO condensed colloidal nanocrystal clusters (MagAlg) prepared through a new soft biomineralization route in the presence of alginate as the polymeric shell and loaded with doxorubicin (DOX). The aim of this work was to study the in vitro cytotoxicity of these new MagAlg–DOX systems on mouse fibroblast and breast carcinoma cell lines. For proper analysis and understanding of cell behavior after administration of MagAlg–DOX compared with free DOX, a complex set of in vitro tests, including production of reactive oxygen species, comet assay, cell cycle determination, gene expression, and cellular uptake, were utilized. It was found that the cytotoxic effect of MagAlg–DOX system is delayed compared to free DOX in both cell lines. This was attributed to the different mechanism of internalization of DOX and MagAlg–DOX into the cells, together with the fact that the drug is strongly bound on the drug nanocarriers. We discovered that nanoparticles can attenuate or even inhibit the effect of DOX, particularly in the tumor MCF7 cell line. This is a first comprehensive study on the cytotoxic effect of DOX-loaded SPIO compared with free DOX on healthy and cancer cell lines, as well as on the induced changes in gene expression.
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