In this presentation, the application of composite conducting conjugated polymer/fullerene nanoparticles in photodynamic therapy (PDT) of cancer is discussed. The nanoparticles are blended systems of PCBM (Phenyl C61 Butyric acid Methyl ester) and the conducting polymer MEH-PPV (Poly[2-methoxy-5-(2-ethylhexyloxy)-1,4-phenylenevinylene]). Due to a combination of triplet energy transfer from polymer to oxygen, and charge transfer from polymer to fullerene, high levels of Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are produced under irradiation with light. These nanoparticles were incubated with cancer cell lines and tested for application in PDT. The intracellular formation of ROS was confirmed by epiluminescence imaging with CellROX green reagent. Viability of cells that had internalized nanoparticles was quantified by MTT assays for samples kept in dark and samples irradiated with light. Intrinsic nanoparticle cytotoxicity was found to be negligible in dark. PDT experiments show significant cell death. Our results show that conducting polymer nanoparticles are biocompatible, and that the conducting polymer photochemical and photophysical properties lend themselves very well for application in biophotonics and therapeutics. These nanoparticles will be further developed for targeted delivery to specific cancer types.The figure shows the confocal fluorescence image of OVCAR3 cells with nanoparticles shown in green color and the viability of different cell lines  after PDT measured by MTT assay.                                                                           

Polymer /fullerene nanobioprobes for formation of ROS through charge transfer and triplet photochemistry, and their application in photodynamic therapy

248th National Meeting (2014)

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