Department of Physics, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas 76019, USA.
Laboratory on High-Strength Structural Materials, Central South University, Changsha 410083, P. R. China.
J Mater Chem B. 2019 Nov 14;7(42):6630-6642. doi: 10.1039/c9tb01566c. Epub 2019 Oct 8.
Copper-cysteamine (Cu-Cy) is a novel sensitizer that can be excited by ultraviolet (UV) light, microwave (MW), ultrasound, and X-rays to generate highly toxic reactive oxygen species (ROS) for cancer cell destruction. The purpose of this study is to present a facile method for the synthesis of Cu-Cy nanoparticles. Interestingly, we were able to decrease both the stirring and heating time by about 24 and 6 times, respectively, thus making Cu-Cy nanoparticles more economical than what was reported before. 1,4-Diazabicylo[2.2.2]octane (DABCO), a well-known singlet oxygen quencher, showed that the majority of ROS produced by Cu-Cy nanoparticles upon UV and MW exposure were singlet oxygen. Moreover, ROS generated by Cu-Cy nanoparticles upon UV and MW exposure were confirmed by a known ROS tracking agent, dihydrorhodamine 123, further serving as an additional piece of evidence that Cu-Cy is a promising ROS generating agent to destroy cancer cells as well as bacteria or viruses by a radical therapeutic approach. Additionally, for the first time, the hydroxyl radical (˙OH) produced by Cu-Cy nanoparticles upon MW activation was proved by a photoluminescence (PL) technique using coumarin as a probe molecule. Remarkably, newly synthesized nanoparticles were found to be much more effective for producing ROS and killing cancer cells, suggesting that the new method may have increased the reactivity of the Cu-Cy nanoparticles due to an overall size reduction. Overall, the new method not only reduced the synthesis time but also enhanced the effectiveness of Cu-Cy nanoparticles for photodynamic therapy.
铜-半胱氨酸（Cu-Cy）是一种新型敏化剂，可被紫外线（UV）光、微波（MW）、超声和 X 射线激发，产生高毒性的活性氧物质（ROS），用于破坏癌细胞。本研究的目的是提出一种简便的方法来合成 Cu-Cy 纳米粒子。有趣的是，我们能够分别将搅拌和加热时间减少约 24 倍和 6 倍，从而使 Cu-Cy 纳米粒子比以前报道的更加经济。1,4-二氮杂二环[2.2.2]辛烷（DABCO）是一种众所周知的单线态氧猝灭剂，表明 Cu-Cy 纳米粒子在 UV 和 MW 暴露下产生的大多数 ROS 是单线态氧。此外，通过已知的 ROS 追踪剂二氢罗丹明 123 进一步证实了 Cu-Cy 纳米粒子在 UV 和 MW 暴露下产生的 ROS，这进一步证明了 Cu-Cy 是一种有前途的 ROS 产生剂，可通过自由基治疗方法破坏癌细胞以及细菌或病毒。此外，首次通过使用香豆素作为探针分子的光致发光（PL）技术证明了 Cu-Cy 纳米粒子在 MW 激活下产生的羟基自由基（˙OH）。值得注意的是，新合成的纳米粒子在产生 ROS 和杀死癌细胞方面被发现更加有效，这表明新方法可能由于整体尺寸减小而增加了 Cu-Cy 纳米粒子的反应性。总的来说，新方法不仅缩短了合成时间，而且提高了 Cu-Cy 纳米粒子用于光动力疗法的效果。
