Carbon Spheres for Photothermal Therapy of Tumor Cells: Rapid Preparation and High Photothermal Effect

doi:10.15541/jim20210124

Abstract

Abstract:

Photothermal therapy is a new non-invasive treatment method, which can make up for the deficiency of traditional tumor therapy. As an efficient photothermal agent, carbon nanomaterials show great potential in the photothermal therapy of tumor. In this study, a rapid polymerization of pyrogallic acid and formaldehyde was induced by ultrasound-assisted method. Carbon spheres with good biocompatibility and high photothermal conversion efficiency were quickly prepared by subsequent calcination treatment. The prepared carbon spheres are highly monodisperse and uniform in size. Under 808 nm near-infrared light irradiation, they exhibit good photothermal effect and photothermal stability with photothermal conversion efficiency up to 41.4%. Cell experiments show that carbon spheres have no obvious cytotoxicity, and can effectively kill the tumor cells under near-infrared light irradiation. This work is expected to construct efficient photothermal carbon spheres for photothermal therapy of tumor.

Key words: ultrasound-assisted method, carbon sphere, photothermal therapy, tumor

CLC Number:

TB34

WEI Chengxiong, JIN Xin, YIN Peinan, WU Chengwei, ZHANG Wei. Carbon Spheres for Photothermal Therapy of Tumor Cells: Rapid Preparation and High Photothermal Effect[J]. Journal of Inorganic Materials, 2021, 36(11): 1208-1216.

Figures/Tables 10

Fig. 1 Formation process of the carbon spheres

Fig. 2 Effects of molar ratios of pyrogallic acid to formaldehyde at (a) 2:1, (b) 1:1, (c) 1:2, and (d) 1:4 on morphologies of phenolic resin spheres

Fig. 3 Effects of molar ratios of pyrogallol to formaldehyde at (a) 2 : 1, (b) 1 : 1, (c) 1 : 2, and (d) 1 : 4 on particle sizes of phenolic resin spheres

Fig. 4 TEM morphologies of phenolic resin spheres (a) before and (b) after calcination, their (c) particle size analysis curves of dynamic light scattering and (d) thermogravimetric analysis curve of carbon spheres after calcination in N2 atmosphere

Fig. 5 (a) FT-IR and (b) Raman spectra of phenolic resin spheres before and after calcination, (c) Zeta potential of carbon spheres in different dispersion medium and (d) absorbance percent of carbon spheres in different dispersion medium at 808 nm

Fig. 6 Evaluation of photothermal effect of carbon spheres Influence of (a) laser power density (concentration: 100 μg/mL) and (b) concentration of carbon spheres (laser power density: 0.8 W/cm2) on photothermal effect; (c) Cloud images of temperature changes; (d) Measurement of the photothermal stability (concentration: 100 μg/mL, laser power density: 0.8 W/cm2)

Fig. 7 Measurement of the photothermal conversion efficiency of carbon spheres (a) Heating and cooling curves of carbon sphere suspension (concentration: 100 μg/mL, laser power density: 0.8 W/cm2); (b) Linear fitting curve of t and -lnθ at cooling phase; (c) UV-visible absorption curve of carbon sphere suspension

Fig. 8 Viability of HaCaT cells co-cultured with different concentrations of carbon spheres for 24 and 48 h

Fig. 9 Photothermal killing effect of carbon spheres on tumor cells with different laser irradiation time

Fig. 10 Live/dead fluorescence images of tumor cells co-culcured with carbon spheres by different laser irradiation time (Green: live cells; Red: dead cells; Scale bar=200 μm)

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