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Atkins, A.

Publications and source records attributed to Atkins, A..

2 recordsLinked to original sources
bioRxiv2021

An engineered nanocomplex with Photodynamic and Photothermal synergistic properties for cancer treatment

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photothermal therapy (PTT) are promising therapeutic methods for cancer treatment; however, as single modality therapies, either PDT or PTT are still limited in their success rate. A dual application of both PDT and PTT, in a combined protocol, has gained immense interest. In this study, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are conjugated with a PDT agent, meso-tetrahydroxyphenylchlorin (mTHPC) photosensitizer, designed as nanotherapeutic agents that can activate a dual photodynamic/photothermal therapy. The AuNP-mTHPC complex is biocompatible, soluable, and photostable. PDT efficiency is high because of immediate reactive oxygen species (ROS) production upon mTHPC activation by the 650 nm laser which decreased mitochondrial membrane potential ({Delta}{Psi}m). Likewise, the AuNP-mTHPC complex is used as a photoabsorbing (PTA) agent for PTT, due to efficient plasmon absorption and excellent photothermal conversion characteristics of AuNPs under laser irradiation at 532 nm. Under the laser irradiation of a PDT/PTT combination, a twofold phototoxicity outcome follows, compared to PDT-only or PTT-only treatment. This indicates that PDT and PTT have synergistic effects together as a combined therapeutic method. Hence, applying our AuNP-mTHPC may be a potential treatment of cancer in the biomedical field. O_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=122 SRC="FIGDIR/small/471725v1_ufig1.gif" ALT="Figure 1"> View larger version (31K): org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@55fe3corg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1a6468dorg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@161ea64org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1638c91_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG C_FIG

bioengineering↗
bioRxiv2021

Long chain lipids facilitate insertion of large nanoparticles into membranes of small unilamellar vesicles

Insertion of hydrophobic nanoparticles into phospholipid bilayers is limited to small particles that can incorporate into the hydrophobic membrane core in between the two lipid leaflets. Incorporation of nanoparticles above this size limit requires development of challenging surface engineering methodologies. In principle, increasing membrane thickness should facilitate incorporation of larger nanoparticles. Here, we explore the effect of incorporating very long phospholipids (C24:1) into small unilamellar vesicles on the membrane insertion efficiency of hydrophobic nanoparticles that are 5-13 nm in diameter. To this end, we improved an existing vesicle preparation protocol and utilized cryogenic electron microscopy imaging to examine the mode of interaction and to evaluate the insertion efficiency of membrane-inserted nanoparticles. We also perform classical, coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations to identify changes in lipid membrane structural properties that may increase insertion efficiency. Our results indicate that long-chain lipids increase the insertion efficiency by preferentially accumulating near membrane-inserted nanoparticles to reduce the thermodynamically unfavorable disruption of the membrane.

biophysics↗