Abstract
The methods of cell perforation and preheating are used for increasing cell uptake efficiencies of gold nanorings (NRIs), which have the localized surface plasmon resonance wavelength around 1064 nm, and photosensitizer, AlPcS, and hence enhancing the cell damage efficiency through the photothermal (PT) and photodynamic (PD) effects. The perforation and preheating effects are generated by illuminating a defocused 1064-nm femtosecond (fs) laser and a defocused 1064-nm continuous (cw) laser, respectively. Cell damage is produced by illuminating cell samples with a focused 1064-nm cw laser through the PT effect, a focused 1064-nm fs laser through both PT and PD effects, and a focused 660-nm cw laser through the PD effect. Under various conditions with and without cell wash before laser illumination, through either perforation or preheating process, cell uptake and hence cell damage efficiencies can be enhanced. Under our experimental conditions, perforation can be more effective at enhancing cell uptake and damage when compared with preheating.
Highlights
For many therapeutic applications, such as gene therapy, drug molecules need to be delivered into live cells
Because the cell illumination conditions based on laser scanning were different from those with fixed laser beams, which were used for obtaining the cell damage results shown in Figures 8–11, the inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS) and flow cytometry data could not provide us with the same numbers of NRIs and AlPcS per cell as those for cell damage
We have used the methods of cell perforation and preheating for increasing cell uptake efficiencies of Au NRIs, which had the LSP resonance wavelength around 1064 nm, and photosensitizer AlPcS to enhance the cell damage efficiency through the PT and PD effects
Summary
For many therapeutic applications, such as gene therapy, drug molecules need to be delivered into live cells. With Au nanoparticles (NPs) adsorbed onto cell membrane, we can use a low-intensity laser for achieving effective perforation [6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13] In this situation, the illumination of a defocused laser (a pulsed laser is preferred) can induce the localized surface plasmon (LSP) resonance of the Au NPs for increasing absorption and heating such that vapor bubbles can be generated. We use the perforation and preheating processes based on the illuminations of a defocused fs laser and a defocused continuous (cw) laser, respectively, with their wavelengths (both at 1064 nm) coinciding with the LSP resonance spectral range of Au NRIs, for increasing the cell uptake capability of Au NRIs or the photosensitizer AlPcS, and enhancing cell damage efficiency through the illuminations of focused lasers. The results show that both the perforation and preheating processes can increase cell uptake efficiency and reduce the threshold laser fluence for cancer cell damage through either PT, PD, or the combined effect
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