Abstract

In the last few years, new drug delivery systems have been as one of the fewest responses for the treatment of the most aggressive diseases, including cancer. In this perspective, inorganic nanocrystals (NCs) offer the potential for a new and innovative approach for the targeted transport of drugs towards tissues affected by disease. A very important aspect is represented by the determination of the maximum cellular dose of these nanovectors, that is relevant for diagnostic and therapeutic applications both in-vitro and in-vivo tests [1]. Furthermore, the concentration of the nanovector is mandatory for the thorough characterization of the product required for any regulatory approval [2]. Accurate determination of the concentration is not a trivial issue and currently there is a lack of experimental methods recognized as general and reliable [3]. In this work, we propose an approach for the determination of the concentration of a solid lipid nanoparticle (SLN) nanovector encapsulating photoactive copper sulfide (Cu2-xS) NCs characterized by a tunable localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) in the near-infrared (NIR) spectral region, that is highly transparent for tissue, blood, and water [4]. Here, Cu2-xS NCs, synthesized by hot injection method, carefully tuning reaction conditions in order to achieve NCs with a narrow size distribution and an intense LSPR in the second biological window, have been encapsulated into SLN prepared by a hot homogenization technique using a mixture of cholesterol and triglycerides and phospholipids. A calculation method based on Mie-Drude theory using as input data resulting from spectroscopic characterization and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS) investigation for the Cu2-xS NCs and NCs containing SLNs successfully provide the determination of the nanovector concentration (Figure 1). The results are in agreement with experimental data and such an approach represent a powerful tool for determining the concentration of plasmonic NCs based nanovectors regardless of their degree of complexity.

Autore Pugliese

• Giannini Cinzia , Sibillano Teresa

Tutti gli autori

• Vischio F.; De Bellis V.; Fanizza E.; Laquintana V.; Striccoli M.; Sibillano T.; Giannini C.; Denora N.; Curri L.; Depalo N.

Titolo volume/Rivista

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Anno di pubblicazione

2018

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Settori ERC

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