MnO2 nanoparticle encapsulated in polyelectrolytic hybrids from alkyl functionalized carboxymethyl cellulose and azide functionalized gelatin to treat tumors by photodynamic therapy and photothermal therapy

Abstract

BackgroundRecently, manganese dioxide (MnO2) nanoparticles have gained a lot of attention in the biomedical field because of a variety of sensitive properties such as cell imaging, photothermal (PTT) therapy, and photodynamic (PDT) therapy. Herein, we report a polyelectrolyte-stabilized MnO2 (PSMN) nanoparticle system for combined PDT and PTT therapy. MethodsA polyelectrolyte was synthesized by click chemistry between azide-functionalized gelatin (AG) and alkyne-functionalized carboxymethylcellulose (AC) followed by the in-situ growth of MnO2 nanoparticles. The as-synthesized PSMN showed excellent PDT and PTT effect under white light irradiation. The combined PDT and PTT efficiency of PSMN is very high relative to that of gelatin-MnO2 and CMC-MnO2 systems. Significant findingsHere we demonstrated that MnO2 stabilized by a PSMN system displayed superior combined PDT and PTT efficiency against cancer cell lines (86% cell death), which proved that this versatile material can be used as a novel light-sensitive probe for cancer therapy. However, the single systems stabilized with MnO2 nanoparticles such as ACM and AGM showed 61.3% and 47.9 % of cell death respectively. In contrast to ACM and AGM, PSMN-treated groups had the greatest percentages of apoptosis and necrosis under light irradiation, according to fluorescence images of HeLa cells. The singlet oxygen detection by DPBF and DAB probes further demonstrated the PDT effectiveness of the designed system. The photothermal property investigations of the as-synthesized system demonstrated the good hyperthermia characteristics of the PSMN relative to the control groups.