title: In Situ Construction and Characterization of Chlorin-Based Supramolecular Aggregates in Tumor Cells.
abstract: We demonstrate in situ construction and characterization of supramolecular aggregates from chlorin p6 (Cp6) molecules in tumor cells. Fully deprotonated Cp6 molecules in neutral condition were partially protonated inside the acidic lysosomes of cells and significantly increased the hydrophobicity of them that resulted in simultaneous formation of J-type aggregates. Importantly, the formation of J-aggregates was fully characterized in artificial tissues by UV-vis, circular dichroism (CD) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) techniques. Compared to the monomers, the J-aggregates exhibited 55-fold enhanced thermal conversion efficiency (η) at the optimal excitation wavelength (690 nm). The remarkably increased heat effect contributed to the stronger photoacoustic (PA) signals, leading to at least 2 orders of magnitude increase of the tumor-to-normal tissue ratio (T/N), which was defined as the PA signal ratio between tumor site and surrounding normal tissue. We envision that this proof-of-concept study will open a new way to develop tumor environment-induced self-assembly for variable biomedical applications.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Hollow Fiber Membrane Materials and Processes, School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Tianjin Polytechnic University , 100044 Tianjin, China.|CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, CAS Key Laboratory for Biological Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology (NCNST) , No. 11 Beiyitiao, Zhongguancun, 100190 Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Wei-Jiao
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, CAS Key Laboratory for Biological Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology (NCNST) , No. 11 Beiyitiao, Zhongguancun, 100190 Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Di
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, CAS Key Laboratory for Biological Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology (NCNST) , No. 11 Beiyitiao, Zhongguancun, 100190 Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Li-Li
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, CAS Key Laboratory for Biological Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology (NCNST) , No. 11 Beiyitiao, Zhongguancun, 100190 Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Zeng-Ying
authors.initials: ZY
authors.lastname: Qiao
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Hollow Fiber Membrane Materials and Processes, School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Tianjin Polytechnic University , 100044 Tianjin, China.
authors.forename: Ju-Chen
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, CAS Key Laboratory for Biological Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology (NCNST) , No. 11 Beiyitiao, Zhongguancun, 100190 Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Ying-Xi
authors.initials: YX
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, CAS Key Laboratory for Biological Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology (NCNST) , No. 11 Beiyitiao, Zhongguancun, 100190 Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Guo-Bin
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Qi
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Hollow Fiber Membrane Materials and Processes, School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Tianjin Polytechnic University , 100044 Tianjin, China.
authors.forename: Dong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Hollow Fiber Membrane Materials and Processes, School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Tianjin Polytechnic University , 100044 Tianjin, China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, CAS Key Laboratory for Biological Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology (NCNST) , No. 11 Beiyitiao, Zhongguancun, 100190 Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D002942:Circular Dichroism; D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D011166:Porphyrins / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D011166:Porphyrins; C006969:chlorin
keywords: chlorin; pH sensitive; photoacoustic imaging; supramolecular; tumor