Effects of Pluronic F127 micelles as delivering agents on the vitro dark toxicity and photodynamic therapy activity of carboxy and pyrene substituted porphyrins

Development of Self-Administered Formulation to Improve the Bioavailability of Leuprorelin Acetate

In recent years, the development of self-injectable formulations has attracted much attention, and the development of formulations to control pharmacokinetics, as well as drug release and migration in the skin, has become an active research area. In the present study, the development of a lipid-based depot formulation containing leuprorelin acetate (LA) as an easily metabolizable drug in the skin was prepared with a novel non-lamellar liquid-crystal-forming lipid of mono-O-(5,9,13-trimethyl-4-tetradecenyl) glycerol ester (MGE). Small-angle X-ray scattering, cryo-transmission electron microscopy, and nuclear magnetic resonance observations showed that the MGE-containing formulations had a face-centered cubic packed micellar structure. In addition, the bioavailability (BA) of LA after subcutaneous injection was significantly improved with the MGE-containing formulation compared with the administration of LA solution. Notably, higher C_max and faster T_max were obtained with the MGE-containing formulation, and the BA increased with increasing MGE content in the formulation, suggesting that LA migration into the systemic circulation and its stability might be enhanced by MGE. These results may support the development of self-administered formulations of peptide drugs as well as nucleic acids, which are easily metabolized in the skin.

Porphyrin-Based Metal-Organic Frameworks for Biomedical Applications

Porphyrins and porphyrin derivatives have been widely explored for various applications owing to their excellent photophysical and electrochemical properties. However, inherent shortcomings, such as instability and self-quenching under physiological conditions, limit their biomedical applications. In recent years, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have received increasing attention. The construction of porphyrin-based MOFs by introducing porphyrin molecules into MOFs or using porphyrins as organic linkers to form MOFs can combine the unique features of porphyrins and MOFs as well as overcome the limitations of porphyrins. This Review summarizes important synthesis strategies for porphyrin-based MOFs including porphyrin@MOFs, porphyrinic MOFs, and composite porphyrinic MOFs, and highlights recent achievements and progress in the development of porphyrin-based MOFs for biomedical applications in tumor therapy and biosensing. Finally, the challenges and prospects presented by this class of emerging materials for biomedical applications are discussed.

Photodynamic activity of 2,6-diiodo-3,5-dithienylvinyleneBODIPYs and their folate-functionalized chitosan-coated Pluronic® F-127 micelles on MCF-7 breast cancer cells

A 2,6-diiodo-3,5-dithienylvinyleneBODIPY dye was prepared and encapsulated with folate-chitosan capped Pluronic[Formula: see text] F-127 to provide drug delivery systems for photodynamic therapy (PDT). Moderately enhanced singlet oxygen quantum yields were observed for the dye encapsulation complexes in water. The in vitro dark cytotoxicity and photodynamic activity were investigated on the human breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7) cell line. Minimal dark cytotoxicity was observed for the BODIPY dyes in 5% DMSO and when encapsulated in folate-functionalized chitosan-coated Pluronic[Formula: see text] F-127 micelles, since the cell viability values are consistently greater than 80% over the 0-40 [Formula: see text] concentration range. Upon irradiation of the samples, significant cytocidal activity was observed for the encapsulation complex of a 2,6-diiodo-8-dimethylaminophenyl-3,5-dithienylvinyleneBODIPY dye with less than 50% viable cells observed at concentrations [Formula: see text].

Photophysical Properties of Fluorescent Self-Assembled Peptide Nanostructures for Singlet Oxygen Generation

In this work, a drug delivery system for perillyl alcohol based on the peptide self-assembly containing 3-(2-benzothiazolyl)-7-(diethylamino)coumarin (C6) as a fluorescent additive is obtained, and its photophysical characteristics as well as its release dynamics were studied by steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy. Results proved the dynamics of drug release from the peptide nanostructures and showed that the system formed by the self-assembled peptide and C6, along with perillyl alcohol, presents unique photophysical properties that can be exploited to generate singlet oxygen (1O2) upon irradiation, which is not achieved by the sole components. Through epifluorescence microscopy combined with time-correlated single photon counting fluorescence spectroscopy, the release mechanism was proven to occur upon peptide structure interconversion, which is controlled by environmental changes.

Porphyrinoid-based photosensitizers for diagnostic and therapeutic applications: An update

Porphyrin-based molecules are actively studied as dual function theranostics: fluorescence-based imaging for diagnostics and fluorescence-guided therapeutic treatment of cancers. The intrinsic fluorescent and photodynamic properties of the bimodal molecules allows for these theranostic approaches. Several porphyrinoids bearing both hydrophilic and/or hydrophobic units at their periphery have been developed for the aforementioned applications, but better tumor selectivity and high efficacy to destroy tumor cells is always a key setback for their use. Another issue related to their effective clinical use is that, most of these chromophores form aggregates under physiological conditions. Nanomaterials that are known to possess incredible properties that cannot be achieved from their bulk systems can serve as carriers for these chromophores. Porphyrinoids, when conjugated with nanomaterials, can be enabled to perform as multifunctional nanomedicine devices. The integrated properties of these porphyrinoid-nanomaterial conjugated systems make them useful for selective drug delivery, theranostic capabilities, and multimodal bioimaging. This review highlights the use of porphyrins, chlorins, bacteriochlorins, phthalocyanines and naphthalocyanines as well as their multifunctional nanodevices in various biomedical theranostic platforms.

Photophysical properties and photodynamic therapy activity of ameso-tetra(4-carboxyphenyl)porphyrin tetramethyl ester–graphene quantum dot conjugate

Ameso-tetra(4-carboxyphenyl)porphyrin tetramethyl ester and the Zn and GaCl derivatives were π–π stacked with graphene quantum dots to form conjugates and their photophysical and photodynamic therapy properties were investigated.