Time-resolved absorption spectroscopy of hematoporphyrin and its photoproducts

Comparative study of phototoxicity of protoporphyrin IX synthetic and extracted from ssp Rattus novergicus albinus rats toward murine melanoma cells

Protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) is a precursor of heme synthesis and is known to be an active photosensitizer and precursor of photosensitizers applied in photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photodynamic diagnostics (PDD). On irradiation with visible light, PpIX undergoes phototransformation, producing photoproducts which may also be phototoxic and increase its efficacy. The mechanism of PpIX phototransformation depends on environmental characteristics and can be different in vitro and in vivo. In this paper, we present a comparative study of the photoactivity of synthetic PpIX and PpIX extracted from the Harderian gland of ssp Rattus novergicus albinus rats, along with their photoproducts toward murine B16F-10 melanoma cells. It was observed that when irradiated with visible light the endogenous PpIX demonstrates photocytotoxicity ten times higher than the synthetic PpIX. The photoproduct of endogenous PpIX also possesses phototoxicity, though slightly lower than that of PpIX itself. The rate of cell internalization for both endogenous PpIX and its photoproduct was eightfold greater than that obtained for the synthetic porphyrin. This difference might result from a complexation of the native PpIX with some amphiphilic compounds during its synthesis within the Harderian glands, which facilitates the cell uptake of PpIX. Fluorescence microscopy images show that both endogenous and synthetic porphyrins are localized after uptake predominantly in the mitochondrial region of cells.

Femtosecond studies of hematoporphyrin derivative in solution: effect of pH and solvent on the excited state dynamics

We report direct femtosecond measurements of the excited state dynamics of hematoporphyrin derivative (HpD) in solution. The dynamics are found to be very sensitive to the solvent and pH of aqueous solutions. The decay of the excited singlet states is much faster in acidic and pH 7 buffer aqueous solutions (< 230 ps) than in basic aqueous solutions or organic solvents (> 10 ns). The dynamical results show strong correlation with static fluorescence measurements: weaker fluorescence in acidic and pH 7 buffer solutions corresponding to shorter-lived excited states. A new fast decay component with a time constant around 5 ps is identified both in acidic aqueous solutions and in organic solvents such as acetone and attributed to internal conversion from the second to the first excited singlet state of aggregates or certain oligomers in HpD, in accord with the observation that the fast decay component is larger at a higher concentration. Oxygen is found to have no effect on the dynamics on the time scale investigated, 1 ns, indicating that oxygen quenching of the singlet excited states is insignificant on this time scale. The sensitive solvent and pH dependence of the excited state dynamics has important clinical implications in the use of HpD as a photosensitizing agent.