Aim: Polyethylene glycol modified mesoporous silica-coated bismuth nanohybrids (Bi@mSiO2-PEG) are fabricated for chemothermotherapy and multimodal imaging.
Materials & methods: The Bi@mSiO2-PEG are synthesized by coating mesoporous SiO2 onto metallic Bi cores, followed by PEG modification. Their cytotoxicity, photothermal effect, drug loading, antitumor effect and imaging abilities are evaluated.
Results: The nanohybrids show good biocompatibility, strong near-infrared absorbance, high photothermal conversion efficiency (∼36.6%), prominent infrared thermal imaging and photothermal killing efficacy on cancer cells. Utilizing the nanohybrids as potent drug carriers, a synergistic antitumor effect through chemothermotherapy is realized. Thanks to the superhigh x-ray attenuation coefficient and strong photothermal ability, high-contrast photoacoustic and x-ray computed tomography imaging are achieved.
Conclusion: These results reveal great potentials of the Bi@mSiO2-PEG for precise and efficient anticancer treatments.
Keywords: bismuth nanocrystals; chemo-thermotherapy; chemotherapy; drug delivery; mesoporous silica; multimodal imaging; photoacoustic imaging; photothermal agents; photothermal therapy; x-ray computed tomography.