Facile synthesis and in vivo bioimaging applications of porphyrin derivative-encapsulated polymer nanoparticles

Fluorescence (FL) imaging guided photodynamic therapy (PDT) is becoming highly desirable for personalized therapy and precision medicine. In this study, fluorescent polymer nanoparticles TCPP@PEI/PGA were facilely synthesized through electrostatic interaction-mediated self-assembly of porphyrins tetra(4-carboxyphenyl)porphine (TCPP) and polyethylenimine (PEI), and subsequent surface modification with γ -poly(glutamic acid) ( γ -PGA). TCPP served a dual function as the FL imaging probe and the photosensitizer. The as-prepared TCPP@PEI/PGA nanoparticles showed excellent water-solubility and biocompatibility, while having outstanding capabilities of in vivo bioimaging and 1 O 2 generation. FL bioimaging of mice and effective killing of CT 26 cells as well as CT 26 tumor-bearing mice upon laser irradiation were successfully demonstrated when using TCPP@PEI/PGA as theranostic nanoprobes. This study provides a simple but robust method to design and synthesize porphyrin-based polymer nanoparticles for theranostics. A simple but robust synthetic route is successfully demonstrated to encapsulate TCPP into PEI-based nanotheranostic probes TCPP@PEI/PGA which exhibit excellent water-solubility and biocompatibility, as well as outstanding capabilities of in vivo bioimaging and 1 O 2 generation.