TY - JOUR
T1 - One-pot synthesis of theranostic nanocapsules with lanthanide doped nanoparticles
AU - Wang, Miao
AU - Zhang, Yu
AU - Ng, Michael
AU - Skripka, Artiom
AU - Cheng, Ting
AU - Li, Xu
AU - Bhakoo, Kishore Kumar
AU - Chang, Alex Y.
AU - Rosei, Federico
AU - Vetrone, Fiorenzo
N1 - Funding Information:
F. V. acknowledges funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada through the Discovery Grants program and the Discovery Accelerator Supplement (DAS) award, the Canada Foundation for Innovation for infrastructure and its operation, and the Fonds de Recherche du Québec-Nature et technologies (FRQNT). F. R. acknowledges the NSERC for a Discovery Grant and the Canada Research Chairs program for funding and partial salary support. M. W. and A. Y. C. are grateful for the Johns Hopkins Singapore Research Fund provided by a private limited company for supporting their Santa Fe research programme. A. S. is grateful to FRQNT for nancial support in the form of a scholarship for doctoral studies. X. L., M. N. and K. B. acknowledge the support of A*STAR, Singapore.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Royal Society of Chemistry.
PY - 2020/7/14
Y1 - 2020/7/14
N2 - We report a one-pot synthesis strategy for a new theranostic nanoplatform by simultaneously encapsulating Er3+, Yb3+ doped NaGdF4 upconverting nanoparticles (UCNPs) and photosensitizer zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc) into polymeric micelle/silica nanocapsules. This approach consists of interfacial templating condensation, using triblock copolymers, namely (ethylene oxide)106(propylene oxide)70(ethylene oxide)106 (PEO-PPO-PEO) as the templating and protecting agent. The encapsulation follows a straightforward microemulsion mechanism in an aqueous environment at a near-neutral pH. To prevent the interaction between the hydrophobic oleic acid (OA) ligands of UCNPs and the silanol groups of hydrated tetramethoxysilane (TMOS), we adjusted the addition sequence of TMOS. It allowed us first to encapsulate UCNPs in PEO-PPO-PEO micelles, and then grow the silica shell within the micellar PPO core and PEO corona interface. The silica shell is incorporated for its chemical and mechanical stability, while the PEO corona gives additional steric balance to the nanocapsule. Using this strategy we successfully co-encapsulated UCNPs and ZnPc in one-pot, and minimized the distance between the two payloads to facilitate the energy transfer from UCNPs to ZnPc. The integrated nanocapsule has an average hydrodynamic size of 85 nm with a low polydispersity index of 0.1, and demonstrates excellent colloidal stability, biocompatibility, enhanced negative contrast for T2-weighted imaging and photodynamic therapy. The latter is obtained through indirect excitation of co-encapsulated ZnPc by UCNPs, resulting in singlet oxygen generation and in vitro eradication of BT474 breast cancer cells. Overall, the presented one-pot approach shines light on the co-encapsulation of OA-capped inorganic UCNPs with hydrophobic photosensitizers, constituting an important step forward in the surface engineering of UCNPs, as well as upconversion based photodynamic therapy systems.
AB - We report a one-pot synthesis strategy for a new theranostic nanoplatform by simultaneously encapsulating Er3+, Yb3+ doped NaGdF4 upconverting nanoparticles (UCNPs) and photosensitizer zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc) into polymeric micelle/silica nanocapsules. This approach consists of interfacial templating condensation, using triblock copolymers, namely (ethylene oxide)106(propylene oxide)70(ethylene oxide)106 (PEO-PPO-PEO) as the templating and protecting agent. The encapsulation follows a straightforward microemulsion mechanism in an aqueous environment at a near-neutral pH. To prevent the interaction between the hydrophobic oleic acid (OA) ligands of UCNPs and the silanol groups of hydrated tetramethoxysilane (TMOS), we adjusted the addition sequence of TMOS. It allowed us first to encapsulate UCNPs in PEO-PPO-PEO micelles, and then grow the silica shell within the micellar PPO core and PEO corona interface. The silica shell is incorporated for its chemical and mechanical stability, while the PEO corona gives additional steric balance to the nanocapsule. Using this strategy we successfully co-encapsulated UCNPs and ZnPc in one-pot, and minimized the distance between the two payloads to facilitate the energy transfer from UCNPs to ZnPc. The integrated nanocapsule has an average hydrodynamic size of 85 nm with a low polydispersity index of 0.1, and demonstrates excellent colloidal stability, biocompatibility, enhanced negative contrast for T2-weighted imaging and photodynamic therapy. The latter is obtained through indirect excitation of co-encapsulated ZnPc by UCNPs, resulting in singlet oxygen generation and in vitro eradication of BT474 breast cancer cells. Overall, the presented one-pot approach shines light on the co-encapsulation of OA-capped inorganic UCNPs with hydrophobic photosensitizers, constituting an important step forward in the surface engineering of UCNPs, as well as upconversion based photodynamic therapy systems.
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85089580658&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1039/d0sc01033b
DO - 10.1039/d0sc01033b
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85089580658
SN - 2041-6520
VL - 11
SP - 6653
EP - 6661
JO - Chemical Science
JF - Chemical Science
IS - 26
ER -