title: C-Dot Generated Bioactive Organosilica Nanospheres in Theranostics: Multicolor Luminescent and Photothermal Properties Combined with Drug Delivery Capacity.
abstract: Biocompatible nanomaterials that allow for labeling cells and tissues with the capacity to load and deliver drug molecules hold great promise for the therapeutic-diagnostic purposes in tissue repair and disease cure. Here a novel nanoplatform, called C-dot bioactive organosilica nanosphere (C-BON), is introduced to have excellent theranostic potential, such as controlled drug delivery, visible-light imaging, and NIR photothermal activity. C-dots with a few nanometers were in situ generated in the Ca-containing organosilica mesoporous nanospheres through the sol-gel and thermal-treatment processes. The C-BON exhibited multicolor luminescence over a wide visible-light range with strong emissions and high photostability over time and against acidity and the possible in vivo optical imaging capacity when injected in rat subcutaneous tissues. Moreover, the C-BON showed a photothermal heating effect upon the irradiation of near-infrared. The C-BON, thanks to the high mesoporosity and existence of Ca(2+) ions, demonstrated excellent loading capacity of anticancer drug doxorubicin (as high as 90% of carrier weight) and long-term (over a couple of weeks) and pH/NIR-dependent release ability. The C-BON preserved the compositional merit of Ca-Si glass, having excellent bioactivity and cell compatibility in vitro. Taken all, the multifunctional properties of C-BON-multicolor luminescence, photothermal activity, and high drug loading and controlled release-together with its excellent bioactivity and cell compatibility potentiate the future applications in theranostics (chemotherapy and photothermal therapy with optical imaging).
authors.affiliation: Institute of Tissue Regeneration Engineering (ITREN), ‡Department of Nanobiomedical Science & BK21 PLUS NBM Global Research Center for Regenerative Medicine, and §Department of Biomaterials Science, School of Dentistry, Dankook University , Cheonan 330-714, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Rajendra K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.affiliation: Institute of Tissue Regeneration Engineering (ITREN), ‡Department of Nanobiomedical Science & BK21 PLUS NBM Global Research Center for Regenerative Medicine, and §Department of Biomaterials Science, School of Dentistry, Dankook University , Cheonan 330-714, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Kapil D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.affiliation: Institute of Tissue Regeneration Engineering (ITREN), ‡Department of Nanobiomedical Science & BK21 PLUS NBM Global Research Center for Regenerative Medicine, and §Department of Biomaterials Science, School of Dentistry, Dankook University , Cheonan 330-714, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Chinmaya
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mahapatra
authors.affiliation: Institute of Tissue Regeneration Engineering (ITREN), ‡Department of Nanobiomedical Science & BK21 PLUS NBM Global Research Center for Regenerative Medicine, and §Department of Biomaterials Science, School of Dentistry, Dankook University , Cheonan 330-714, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Min Sil
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Tissue Regeneration Engineering (ITREN), ‡Department of Nanobiomedical Science & BK21 PLUS NBM Global Research Center for Regenerative Medicine, and §Department of Biomaterials Science, School of Dentistry, Dankook University , Cheonan 330-714, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Hae-Won
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004317:Doxorubicin; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D049449:Luminescence; D054118:Nanospheres; D051381:Rats; D000068936:Theranostic Nanomedicine
chemical_list: D004317:Doxorubicin
keywords: bioactive organosilica; biocompatible nanoparticle; carbon dot; drug delivery; multicolor luminescent; optical imaging; photothermal therapy