Carbon dots nanophotosensitizers with tunable reactive oxygen species generation for mitochondrion-targeted type I/II photodynamic therapy

• Published in: Biomaterials 2023-02, Vol.293, p.121953-121953, Article 121953
• Main Authors: Zhang, Yunxiu, Jia, Qingyan, Nan, Fuchun, Wang, Jian, Liang, Ke, Li, Jian, Xue, Xiaokuang, Ren, Haohui, Liu, Weimin, Ge, Jiechao, Wang, Pengfei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Carbon - chemistry; Carbon dots; Cell Line, Tumor; Fluorescence imaging; Humans; Mitochondria - metabolism; Nanophotosensitizer; Neoplasms - drug therapy; Photochemotherapy - methods; Photodynamic therapy; Photosensitizing Agents - chemistry; Reactive Oxygen Species - metabolism; Tumor Microenvironment; Tunable reactive oxygen species generation
• ISSN: 0142-9612; 1878-5905
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2022.121953

Carbon dots (CDs) have emerged as promising nanomaterials for bioimaging-guided photodynamic therapy (PDT). However, designing red-emissive CDs (RCDs) with tunable type I and type II reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation to simultaneously meet PDT applications in aerobic and hypoxic scenarios still remain major challenges. Herein, three types of RCDs with maximum emission at approximately 680 nm are successfully prepared. It is noteworthy that they exhibit the adjustable ROS production with equal superoxide anion (via type I PDT) and incremental singlet oxygen (via type II PDT). Detailed structural and optical characterizations along with theoretical calculation reveal that the unique type I/II ROS formation mainly depends on the core sizes and surface states of RCDs, which determine their identical redox potentials and tapering energy gaps between singlet- and triplet states, respectively. Additionally, due to the inherent mitochondria targeting capability, RCDs enable themselves to induce cell programmed death via activating mitochondrion-mediated apoptotic pathways. This work exploits the unprecedented RCDs with tunable type I and type II ROS generation that could ensure highly efficient tumor eradication both in vitro and in vivo, even under the harsh tumor microenvironment, providing a new prospect for CDs as nanophotosensitizers to conquer the limitations of single type PDT. Red emissive carbon dots with tunable reactive oxygen species generation are prepared to achieve highly efficient fluorescence imaging-guided type I/II photodynamic therapy via activating mitochondrion-mediated apoptotic pathways of cancer cells, providing a new prospect for carbon dots as nanophotosensitizers to conquer the limitations of single type PDT. [Display omitted]