Enhanced 5-aminolevulinic acid-gold nanoparticle conjugate-based photodynamic therapy using pulse laser

The low bioavailability is a crucial limitation for the application of 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) in theranostics. In this research, 5-aminolevulinic acid and gold nanoparticle conjugates (ALA-GNPs) were synthesized to improve the bioavailability of ALA and to investigate the impact of ALA photodynamic therapy (ALA-PDT) in Hela cells. A 532 nm pulse laser and light-emitting diode (central wavelengths 502 nm) were jointly used as light sources in PDT research. The results show a 532 nm pulse laser can control ALA release from ALA-GNPs by adjusting the pulse laser dose. This laser control release may be attributed to the heat generation from GNPs under pulse laser irradiation, which indicates accurately adjusting the pulse laser dose to control the drug release in the cell interior can be considered as a new cellular surgery modality. Furthermore, the PDT results in Hela cells indicate the enhancement of ALA release by pulse laser before PDT can promote the efficacy of cell eradication in the light-emitting diode PDT (LED-PDT). This laser mediated drug release system can provide a new online therapy approach in PDT and it can be utilized in the optical monitor technologies based individual theranostics.