ABSTRACT
Currently, nanoscience is a major part of biomedical research, due to material advances that aid the development of new tools and techniques to replace traditional methods. To this end, the potential of porous silicon nanoparticles (pSiNPs) has been examined, especially in areas of cancer treatment and diagnosis. The properties of pSiNPs such as their porous structure, high surface area and porous volume, biocompatibility and biodegradability offer real opportunities for focal therapies that can avoid the side effects caused by conventional methods. This review is focused on pSiNPs and their potential application in targeted anticancer drug delivery, and photodynamic and thermal therapies. In addition, the luminescence properties of pSiNPS are useful in bioimaging and diagnosis. Hence, the theranostic potential of pSiNPs is discussed herein.
ABSTRACT
Photodynamic therapy has emerged as an alternative to chemotherapy and radiotherapy for cancer treatment. Nanoparticles have recently been proposed as effective carriers for photosensitizers. Depending on their chemical composition, these can be used for diagnosis and therapy due to the selective accumulation of the photosensitizer in cancer cells in vitro or in tumors in vivo. Multifunctional nanoplatforms combining several applications within the same nano-object emerge as potential important theranostic tools. This review, based on the chemical nature of the nanoparticles will discuss recent advances in the area of non polymeric nanoparticles for photodynamic therapy applications.
Subject(s)
Nanoparticles/therapeutic use , Photochemotherapy , Photosensitizing Agents/therapeutic use , Animals , Gold/therapeutic use , Humans , Magnetics , Nanotubes, Carbon , Silicon Dioxide/therapeutic use , Titanium/therapeutic use , Zinc Oxide/therapeutic useABSTRACT
The covalent attachment of semicarbazide-functionalized layers to hydrogen-terminated Si(111) surfaces is reported. The surface modification, based on the photoinduced hydrosilylation of a Si(111) surface with protected semicarbazide-functionalized alkenes, was investigated by means of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), contact angle measurements, and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The removal of the protecting group yielded a semicarbazide-terminated monolayer which was reacted with peptides bearing a glyoxylyl group for site-specific alpha-oxo semicarbazone ligation.
