Crystalline organic nanoparticles for diagnosis and PDT

摘要

Nanoparticles made from aluminum phthalocyanine (AlPc) raw material are non-fluorescent because of fluorescence quenching due to the molecular crystalline structure forming a stack of flat molecular layers. However, when AlPc molecules become detached from the particle, fluorescence occurs. First observations demonstrated the benefit of using aluminum phthalocyanine nanoparticles (nAlPc) for the assessment of the rejection risk of skin autografts in mice by measuring fluorescence intensities of detached AlPc molecules. Skin autografts showing a high fluorescence intensity of AlPc were finally rejected induced by an inflammatory process. In contrast, autografts with normal skin autofluorescence were accepted. This finding stimulated our work to reveal the mechanism of the AlPc fluorescence development from the nanoparticles. This could be used to specifically detect inflammatory processes or tumors and will have the potential of using nAlPc as a new treatment modality for PDT.