Driven by their distinctive physiological activities, biological properties and unique theranostic modalities, silicon nanoparticles (SiNPs) are one of the promising materials for the development of novel multifunctional nanoplatforms for biomedical applications. In this work, we assessed the possibility to use laser-synthesized Si NPs as photosensitizers in two-photon excited photodynamic therapy (TPE-PDT) modality. Herein, we used an easy strategy to synthesize ultraclean and monodispersed SiNPs using laser ablation and fragmentation sequences of silicon wafer in aqueous solution, which prevent any specific purification step. Structural analysis revealed the spherical shape of the nanoparticles with a narrow size distribution centered at the mean size diameter of 62 nm ± 0.42 nm, while the negative surface charge of -40 ± 0.3 mV ensured a great stability without sedimentation over a long period of time. In vitro studies on human cancer cell lines (breast and liver) and healthy cells revealed their low cytotoxicity without any light stimulus and their therapeutic potential under TPE-PDT mode at 900 nm with a promising cell death of 45% in case of MCF-7 breast cancer cells, as a consequence of intracellular reactive oxygen species release. Their luminescence emission inside the cells was clearly observed at UV-Vis region. Compared to Si nanoparticles synthesized via chemical routes, which are often linked to additional modules with photochemical and photobiological properties to boost photodynamic effect, laser-synthesized SiNPs exhibit promising intrinsic therapeutic and imaging properties to develop advanced strategy in nanomedicine field.
Keywords: pulsed laser process; silicon nanoparticles; two-photon excited photodynamic therapy (TPE-PDT).