pH-Responsive drug release and NIR-triggered singlet oxygen generation based on a multifunctional core-shell-shell structure

Renlu Han; Haopeng Yi; Junhui Shi; Zongjun Liu; Hao Wang; Yafei Hou; You Wang

doi:10.1039/c6cp05308d

pH-Responsive drug release and NIR-triggered singlet oxygen generation based on a multifunctional core-shell-shell structure

Phys Chem Chem Phys. 2016 Sep 14;18(36):25497-25503. doi: 10.1039/c6cp05308d.

Authors

Renlu Han¹, Haopeng Yi¹, Junhui Shi¹, Zongjun Liu², Hao Wang¹, Yafei Hou¹, You Wang¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, People's Republic of China. y-wang@hit.edu.cn.
² School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, People's Republic of China.

PMID: 27711590
DOI: 10.1039/c6cp05308d

Abstract

A multifunctional platform with pH-responsive drug release and near-infrared (NIR) light-triggered photodynamic therapy (PDT) was designed and prepared using the novel core-shell-shell structure. The multifunctional platform consists of an upconversion nanoparticle (UCNP) emission core, a photosensitizer methylene blue (MB) embedded dense silica sandwich shell, and a polyethyleneimine conjugated folic acid (PEI-FA) gated mesoporous silica (MS) outmost shell with doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX) loaded inside. The simulated drug release experiments revealed that DOX will release from the nanoparticles because of the distortion in the PEI-FA layer under acidic conditions. Moreover, under 980 nm NIR irradiation, a 660 nm red light emission was excited, activating MB to generate a singlet oxygen (¹O₂), which acts as the PDT drug. The multifunctional platform integrated pH-responsive drug release and UCNP-based PDT drug together show promising potential in nanomedicine for future chemotherapy and NIR-triggered PDT.