Intracellular pH-Induced Tip-to-Tip Assembly of Gold Nanorods for Enhanced Plasmonic Photothermal Therapy.

ABSTRACT: The search for efficient plasmonic photothermal therapies using nonharmful pulse laser irradiation at the near-infrared (NIR) is fundamental for biomedical cancer research. Therefore, the development of novel assembled plasmonic gold nanostructures with the aim of reducing the applied laser power density to a minimum through hot-spot-mediated cell photothermolysis is an ongoing challenge. We demonstrate that gold nanorods (Au NRs) functionalized at their tips with a pH-sensitive ligand assemble into oligomers within cell lysosomes through hydrogen-bonding attractive interactions. The unique intracellular features of the plasmonic oligomers allow us to significantly reduce the femtosecond laser power density and Au NR dose while still achieving excellent cell killing rates. The formation of

SUBMITTER: Ahijado-Guzman R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5046174 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature