Optically active conducting conjugated polymer nanoparticles are easily fabricated by the reprecipitation method. In this presentation the application of these nanoparticles in photodynamic therapy (PDT) of cancer is discussed. The formation of Reactive oxygen species (ROS) due to photo- and biochemistry between the nanoparticles and intracellular biomolecules was confirmed by CellROX green reagent and epiluminescence microscopy. The intrinsic cytotoxicity of the nanoparticles in dark and the viability of the cells after complete PDT treatment were studied by MTT assays. The nanoparticles are found to be not cytotoxic in dark. When photoactivated, cell viability was observed to be related to the amount of uptake of nanoparticles by cells. Interestingly, an apoptotic pathway for cell death was observed for ovarian cancer.  These studies show that biocompatible soft nanoparticles can be designed as photoactivateable PDT agents, and participate in intracellular chemistry that results in controlled cell death. The figure shows the oxidative stress in cells caused by formation of ROS from redox reaction of nanoparticles, indicated by green color in the A549 and OVCAR3 cell lines.                                                                        

Photoactivatable polymer nanoprobe for ROS generation and photodynamic therapy in cancer cells

248th National Meeting (2014)

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