Nanoparticle Conjugated Photosensitizer for Targeted Photodynamic Inactivation of Cancer Cells
Location
Statesboro Campus (Room 2054)
Document Type and Release Option
Thesis Presentation (Open Access)
Faculty Mentor
Dr. Debanjana Ghosh
Faculty Mentor Email
dghosh@georgiasouthern.edu
Presentation Year
2022
Start Date
16-11-2022 6:00 PM
End Date
16-11-2022 7:00 PM
Description
Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is considered to be a potential replacement for traditional methods of chemotherapy. It includes the administration of photosensitizing agents (PS), which generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) upon excitation at a specific wavelength. In the present work, a rhodamine derivative was used as the PS. In general, rhodamine derivatives carry out cytotoxic reactions on photoexcitation by electron transfer reactions with folic acid within cells, making them a favorable PS. However, rhodamines often experience poor water solubility which limits their applications in biological environments. Additionally, the process of PDT also requires a high accumulation of photosensitizer. To overcome the challenge of the aqueous compatibility of rhodamine compound while retaining its specific functioning in cells, this project focused on developing a nanocarrier system to help deliver those dyes to the cancer targets. The present work studies the nature of the interactions between gold nanoparticles (GNPs) serving as a nanocarrier system and a rhodamine derivative as part of a further characterization study. The following research includes the synthesis of GNPs, with particle diameter 16-30 nm verified using Dynamic Light Scattering spectroscopy and UV-Vis, that form a nanocomposite with rhodamine derivatives and undergo immobilization over time. The dye-nanoparticle pair was incubated for different time periods (up to seven days) and characterized through UV-vis and fluorescence spectroscopies. This experimentation showed GNP conjugated rhodamine dye could show higher efficacy in killing cancer cells during PDT, but when combined have viability limited to approximately 48 hours.
Academic Unit
College of Science and Mathematics
Nanoparticle Conjugated Photosensitizer for Targeted Photodynamic Inactivation of Cancer Cells
Statesboro Campus (Room 2054)
Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is considered to be a potential replacement for traditional methods of chemotherapy. It includes the administration of photosensitizing agents (PS), which generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) upon excitation at a specific wavelength. In the present work, a rhodamine derivative was used as the PS. In general, rhodamine derivatives carry out cytotoxic reactions on photoexcitation by electron transfer reactions with folic acid within cells, making them a favorable PS. However, rhodamines often experience poor water solubility which limits their applications in biological environments. Additionally, the process of PDT also requires a high accumulation of photosensitizer. To overcome the challenge of the aqueous compatibility of rhodamine compound while retaining its specific functioning in cells, this project focused on developing a nanocarrier system to help deliver those dyes to the cancer targets. The present work studies the nature of the interactions between gold nanoparticles (GNPs) serving as a nanocarrier system and a rhodamine derivative as part of a further characterization study. The following research includes the synthesis of GNPs, with particle diameter 16-30 nm verified using Dynamic Light Scattering spectroscopy and UV-Vis, that form a nanocomposite with rhodamine derivatives and undergo immobilization over time. The dye-nanoparticle pair was incubated for different time periods (up to seven days) and characterized through UV-vis and fluorescence spectroscopies. This experimentation showed GNP conjugated rhodamine dye could show higher efficacy in killing cancer cells during PDT, but when combined have viability limited to approximately 48 hours.
