Precise Two‐Photon Photodynamic Therapy using an Efficient Photosensitizer with Aggregation‐Induced Emission Characteristics |
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| Authors: | Bobo Gu Wenbo Wu Gaixia Xu Guangxue Feng Feng Yin Peter Han Joo Chong Junle Qu Ken‐Tye Yong Bin Liu |
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| Affiliation: | 1. School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore;2. Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore;3. Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Devices and Systems of Ministry of Education and Guangdong Province, College of Optoelectronic Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China;4. School of Chemical Biology and Biotechnology, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen, China;5. Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand |
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| Abstract: | Two‐photon photodynamic therapy (PDT) is able to offer precise 3D manipulation of treatment volumes, providing a target level that is unattainable with current therapeutic techniques. The advancement of this technique is greatly hampered by the availability of photosensitizers with large two‐photon absorption (TPA) cross section, high reactive‐oxygen‐species (ROS) generation efficiency, and bright two‐photon fluorescence. Here, an effective photosensitizer with aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) characteristics is synthesized, characterized, and encapsulated into an amphiphilic block copolymer to form organic dots for two‐photon PDT applications. The AIE dots possess large TPA cross section, high ROS generation efficiency, and excellent photostability and biocompatibility, which overcomes the limitations of many conventional two‐photon photosensitizers. Outstanding therapeutic performance of the AIE dots in two‐photon PDT is demonstrated using in vitro cancer cell ablation and in vivo brain‐blood‐vessel closure as examples. This shows therapy precision up to 5 µm under two‐photon excitation. |
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| Keywords: | aggregation‐induced emission brain‐blood‐vessel closure cancer cells photodynamic therapy two‐photon excitation |
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