Self-assembled heptamethine cyanine dye dimer as a novel theranostic drug delivery carrier for effective image-guided chemo-photothermal cancer therapy.

Near-infrared (NIR)-induced dye-based theranostic drug delivery carriers are used for critical image-guided chemo-photothermal cancer therapy. However, most carriers fail to deliver sufficient heat and fluorescence efficiently due to direct π-π stacking of the aromatic rings of the NIR dye and drug. In the work reported herein, we examined a self-assembled heptamethine cyanine dye dimer (CyD) with improved heat and fluorescence delivery that was developed by manipulating the unique structural and optical properties of the dimer. The H-aggregation of CyD in an aqueous solution generated a great amount of heat by transforming the energy of the excited electrons into non-radiative energy. Moreover, the disulfide bond of CyD assisted nanoparticles with a drug by minimizing the interaction between the NIR dye and drug, and also by releasing the drug in a redox environment. As a result, DOX encapsulated within CyD (CyD/DOX) showed strong heat generation and fluorescence imaging in tumor-bearing mice, allowing detection of the tumor site and inhibition of tumor growth by chemo-photothermal therapy. The multiplicity of features supplied by the newly developed CyD demonstrated the potential of CyD/DOX as an NIR dye-based theranostic drug-delivery carrier for effective chemo-photothermal cancer therapy.

3-monochloropropane-1,2-diol does not cause neurotoxicity in vitro or neurobehavioral deficits in rats.

3-monochloro-1,2-propanediol (3-MCPD) is a contaminant of acid-hydrolyzed vegetable protein. Several reports have suggested that chronic exposure to 3-MCPD could produce neurotoxicity in vitro or neurobehavioral effects in experimental animals. The present study further explored the in vitro neurotoxic effects of 0.1-100 microM 3-MCPD on PC12 and N18D3 cell lines. In addition, to investigate the effects of repeated ingestion of 3-MCPD on neurobehavioral impairments parameters in rats, motor activity, landing foot splay, and grip strength tests were performed, following treatment with 3-MCPD at dose levels of 10, 20, and 30 mg/kg per day for 11 weeks. We demonstrated that no significant neurotoxic effects were present in 3-MCPD-treated rats compared to saline-treated control rats, whereas, acrylamide, used as a positive control, induced significant deficits in all neurobehavioral parameters in both male and female rats. On the other hand, body weight gain was significantly decreased in high dose 3-MCPD-treated male rats as well as in acrylamide-treated rats. Taken together, these results suggest that 3-MCPD, at the dose levels used for this study, does not produce in vitro neurotoxicity or neuromotor deficits in vivo.