Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Synthesis, Characterization, And Self-Assembly Of Porphyrins Conjugated To Superparamagnetic Colloidal Particles For Enhanced Photodynamic Therapy, Javoris Hollingsworth

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Porphyrins and their derivatives are often used as photosensitizers in photodynamic therapy (PDT), which is a noninvasive antitumor treatment. The photochemical process for PDT involves exciting a photosensitizing agent with visible light, which induces cytotoxicity in the presence of oxygen as a result of forming reactive oxygen species (ROS). The ROS are the responsible components for invoking cell death and destruction of tumors. Although this mechanism is an effective cancer therapeutic, it still has many shortcomings. One major challenge of PDT concerns improving the tumor selectivity and specificity of photosensitizers because porphyrins have nonspecific affinity to tumor cells. The discussed …