Abstract
The association of PhotoSensitizer (PS) molecules with nanoparticles (NPs) forming photosensitizing NPs, has emerged as a therapeutic strategy to improve PS tumor targeting, to protect PS from deactivation reactions and to enhance both PS solubility and circulation time. Since association with NPs usually alters PS photophysical and photochemical properties, photosensitizing NPs are an important tool to modulate ROS generation. Depending on the design of the photosensitizing NP, i.e., type of PS, the NP material and the method applied for the construction of the photosensitizing NP, the deactivation routes of the excited state can be controlled, allowing the generation of either singlet oxygen or other reactive oxygen species (ROS). Controlling the type of generated ROS is desirable not only in biomedical applications, as in Photodynamic Therapy where the type of ROS affects therapeutic efficiency, but also in other technological relevant fields like energy conversion, where the electron and energy transfer processes are necessary to increase the efficiency of photoconversion cells. The current review highlights some of the recent developments in the design of Photosensitizing NPs aimed at modulating the primary photochemical events after light absorption.
Highlights
Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) are reactive molecules derived from molecular oxygen
Targeting key organelles like lysosomes and mitochondria induced cell death trough apoptosis rather than necrosis (Ichinose et al, 2006; Deda et al, 2013). These findings provided a new branch of development of Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) drugs with driven-cytolocalization and specific mechanisms of programmed cell death
In recent years numerous NP structures have been designed for biomedical applications
Summary
Superoxide anion, hydrogen peroxide and other peroxides, hydroxyl radical, and singlet oxygen (1O2) are the main examples of ROS They are formed both in physiological and pathological conditions and are the main species generated during the photodynamic reactions (Wang and Yi, 2008; Dewaele et al, 2010). The PS molecules are able to transfer energy from their excited state (produced by light absorption) to molecular oxygen, generating ROS These photosensitized oxidation reactions are the main actors during exposition of human skin to sun light in the UVA and visible regions (Herrling et al, 2006; Chen and Wang, 2012; Chiarelli-Neto et al, 2014)
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