The aim of this study was to investigate the mechanism of cell death by photodynamic therapy (PDT) in the Rhabdomyosarcoma (RD) cell line. The present study evaluates the effects of photodynamic therapy (PDT) with 5-ALA as photosensitizer using human muscle cancer cells as experimental model. We study the photosensitizer uptake, cytotoxicity, phototoxicity, and cellular viability of the RD cells which was estimated by means of neutral-red spectrophotometric assay. The given experiment was consisted of two steps. For the first one, RD cells were exposed to 5-ALA at concentrations of 0 up to 1000 μg of ALA/ml in minimum essential medium (MEM). The optimal uptake of photosensitizer (5-ALA) in RD cells was investigated by means of spectrometric measurements. Cells viability was determined by means of neutral red assay (NRA). In the second step, 5-ALA exposed RD cells were irradiated with red light (a diode laser, λ = 635 nm) at total light dose of 80 J/cm 2 . The influence of different incubation times and concentrations of 5-ALA, different irradiation doses and various combinations of photosensitizer and light doses on the viability of RD cells were investigated. It was observed that sensitizer concentration or light doses have no significant effect on cells viability when studied independently. The maximal cellular uptake occurred after 47 hours in vitro incubation. The phototoxic assay showed that ALA-PDT induced killing of 76% of the cells at 250 μg/ml drug dose and 80 J/cm 2 light dose.

No abstract

No abstract

Multidrug resistance (MDR) limits the success of many tumoricidal drugs. Non-significant accumulation of the drug into the target site is one major problem in photodynamic therapy. Nanoparticles are extensively used as efficient drug carriers in various local infectious and premalignant biological tissues. Due to their unique physical and chemical properties, PEGylated zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) exhibit high drug loading capacities, sustained drug release profiles and long-term anticancer efficacy. (Polyethylene glycol) PEG-zinc oxide nanoparticles were synthesized using the aquis chemical technique. Morphology/structural analysis of the said nanoparticles was confirmed by applying many techniques, e.g. scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and XRD. Average grain size of the nanoparticles, which was ≈100 nm, was calculated by applying the Scherrer formula. The PEGylated ZnO NPs were loaded with protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) to enhance the capability of drug carrying potency. Current work focused on the comparison of the cell killing effect (apoptosis/necrosis) by functionalizing different nanostructures via PEGylated ZnO NPs and bare ZnO NPs using the free-standing drug delivery procedure. ZnO NPs were used as anticancer drug vehicles because of their biocompatibility and bio-safety profile. The apoptotic effect of PEGylated tumoricidal drugs has been studied in human muscle carcinoma (RD cell line) in the dark as well as under laser exposure. It was concluded that PpIX localization was a significant time greater using encapsulation as compared to a conventional drug delivery system. This new technique may find excellent opportunities in the field of nanomedicine, especially in a multidrug delivery system.