This decrease indicated the production of 1O2, which can irreversibly react with DMA. Moreover, the generation curve of ZnPc4-loaded Aurod@pNIPAAm-PEGMA nanogels was similar with that of pure ZnPc4, demonstrating that the capacity of generating 1O2 of ZnPc4 was hardly affected after being loaded in Aurod@pNIPAAm-PEGMA nanogels. It is thus suggested that the Aurod@pNIPAAm-PEGMA nanogel might be a promising drug carrier for photodynamic therapy

in the future. Figure 9 The generation profiles of singlet oxygen from ZnPc 4 -loaded Au rod @pNIPAAm-PEGMA nanogels (Au/P). The nanogels were irradiated by an 808-nm laser and a 680-nm LED lamp, respectively. In vitro PDT study on Hela cells The in vitro PDT study, represented in Figure 10,

showed the percentage of cell viability after treatment of Hela cells with the ZnPc4-loaded Aurod@pNIPAAm-PEGMA nanogel (300 μg/mL) at different irradiated conditions. Compared with the cells’ group MK-2206 ic50 with no light treatment, no significant difference of the cell viability was found in the 808-nm laser-treated group. However, for the 680-nm light-treated group, the cell viability decreased A-1210477 in vivo to 40%. It is interesting to note that when irradiated by the two lights, the cell viability decreased to 10%. This is because the 808-nm laser treatment might result in the release of ZnPc4 from nanogels, which could improve the efficiency of the generation of singlet oxygen after the 680-nm irradiation and thus enhance the PDT effect on Hela cells. Figure 10 The photodynamic Captisol in vitro therapy effect of ZnPc 4 -loaded Au rod @pNIPAAm-PEGMA nanogels on Hela cells at different irradiated conditions. Conclusions A facile approach to prepare near-infrared-responsive Oxalosuccinic acid Aurod@pNIPAAm-PEGMA nanogels was described. The LCSTs of these Aurod@pNIPAAm-PEGMA nanogels could be tuned by changing the molar ratio of NIPAAm/PEGMA. The release of ZnPc4 loaded in Aurod@pNIPAAm-PEGMA nanogels increased with the extension of irradiated time and the increase of the power

of the NIR laser. The loaded ZnPc4 in Aurod@pNIPAAm-PEGMA nanogels could generate singlet oxygen efficiently. The in vitro study showed obvious PDT effect on Hela cells. On these bases, the Aurod@pNIPAAm-PEGMA nanogels might serve as a promising drug carrier in PDT. Authors’ information RL, TXH, and LDH are Ph.Ds. and professors. ST, WCD, KXB, YAQ, and CM are M.D. students in the Department of Biomaterials, College of Materials, Xiamen University. Acknowledgments This work was financially supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (2010CB732402, 2013CB933703) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (30970733, 81171448). References 1. Han G, Ghosh P, Rotello VM: Functionalized gold nanoparticles for drug delivery. Nanomedicine 2007, 2:113–123.CrossRef 2. Lal S, Clare SE, Halas NJ: Nanoshell-enabled photothermal cancer therapy: impending clinical impact.