Effect of amphiphilic polymers on the photodynamic activity of methylene blue and rose bengal in vitro experiments

https://doi.org/10.58224/2619-0575-2025-8-4-5
Objectives: To study the effect of amphiphilic polymers on the dark and photoinduced toxicity of dyes with photosensitizing properties – methylene blue (MB) and rose bengal (RB) – in in vitro experiments.
Methods. In vitro experiments were carried out on human lung carcinoma A549 cells and on cultures of gram-negative (Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus) bacterial cells using a phototherapeutic LED with a wavelength of λ = 530 nm (for the RB) or λ = 660 nm (for the MB).
Results. Amphiphilic polymers (Pluronic F-108 and poly-N-vinylpyrrolidone) were shown to enhance the dark and photoinduced toxicity of dyes. MB was also shown to exhibit greater activity (compared to RB) in photodynamic inactivation of Gram-negative bacteria, while RB (compared to MB) was shown to exhibit greater activity in the inactivation of Gram-positive bacteria.
Conclusions. MB in combination with amphiphilic polymers is a potential drug of choice for both photodynamic therapy (PDT) of cancer and antibacterial PDT of Gram-negative bacteria. At the same time, RB-based systems hold promise for the development of antibacterial PDT of Gram-positive bacteria.
1. Dai T., Huang Ying-Ying, Hamblin M.R. Photodynamic therapy for localized infections – State of the art. Photodiagnosis and Photodynamic Therapy. 2009. Vol. 6. P. 170 – 188.
2. Pérez C., Zúñiga T., Palavecino C.E. Photodynamic therapy for treatment of Staphylococcus aureus infections. Photodiagnosis and Photodynamic Therapy. 2021. Vol. 34. P. 102285.
3. Kharkwal G.B. Sharma S.K., Huang Ying-Ying, Dai T., Hamblin M.R. Photodynamic therapy for infections: clinical applications. Lasers in Surgery and Medicine. 2011. Vol. 43 (7). P. 755 – 767.
4. Nesi-Reis V., Lera-Nonose D.S.S.L., Oyama J., Silva-Lalucci M.P.P., Demarchi I.G., Aristides S.M.A., Teixeira J.J.V., Silveira T.G.V., Lonardoni M.V.C. Contribution of photodynamic therapy in wound healing: A systematic review. Photodiagnosis and Photodynamic Therapy. 2018. Vol. 21. P. 294 – 305.
5. Solovieva A.B., Rudenko T.G., Shekhter A.B., Glagolev N.N., Spokoinyi A.L., Fayzullin A.L., Aksenova N.A., Shpichka A.I., Kardumyan V.V., Timashev P.S. Broad-spectrum antibacterial and pro-regenerative effects of photoactivated Photodithazine-Pluronic F127-Chitosan polymer system: in vivo study. Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology. 2020. Vol. 210. P. 111954.
6. Clayton T.H., Harrison P.V. Photodynamic therapy for infected leg ulcers. British Journal of Dermatology. 2007. Vol. 156 (2). P. 384 – 385.
7. Hirose M., Yoshida Y., Horii K., Hasegawa Y., Shibuya Y. Efficacy of antimicrobial photodynamic therapy with Rose Bengal and blue light against cariogenic bacteria. Archives of Oral Biology. 2021. Vol. 122. P. 105024.
8. Seeger M.G., Ries A.S., Gressler L.T., Botton S.A., Iglesias B.A., Cargnelutti J.F. In vitro antimicrobial photodynamic therapy using tetra-cationic porphyrins against multidrug-resistant bacteria isolated from ca-nine otitis. Photodiagnosis and Photodynamic Therapy. 2020. Vol. 32. P. 101982.
9. O'Day R.F., Pejnovic T.M., Isaacs T., Muecke J.S., Glasson W.J., Campbell W.G. Australian and New Zealand study of photodynamic therapy in choroidal amelanotic melanoma. Retina. 2020. Vol. 40 (5). P. 972 – 976.
10. Mironov A.F., Zhdanova K.A., Bragina N.A. Nanosized vehicles for delivery of photosensitizers in photodynamic diagnosis and therapy of cancer. Russian Chemical Reviews. 2018. Vol. 87 (9). P. 859 – 881.
11. Hamblin M.R. Potentiation of antimicrobial photodynamic inactivation by inorganic salts // Expert Review of Anti-infective Therapy. 2017. Vol. 15 (11). P. 105 – 1069.
12. Celli J.P., Spring B.Q., Rizvi I., Evans C.L., Samkoe K.S., Verma S., Pogue B.W., Hasan T. Imaging and Photodynamic Therapy: Mechanisms, Monitoring, and Optimization. Chemical Reviews. 2010. Vol. 110 (5). P. 2795 – 2838.
13. Fujii J., Soma Y., Matsuda Y. Biological Action of Singlet Molecular Oxygen from the Standpoint of Cell Signaling, Injury and Death. Molecules. 2023. Vol. 28 (10). P. 4085.
14. Jomova K., Raptova R., Alomar S.Y., Alwasel S.H., Nepovimova E., Kuca K., Valko M. Reactive oxygen species, toxicity, oxidative stress, and antioxidants: chronic diseases and aging. Archives of Toxi-cology. 2023. Vol. 97 (10). P. 2499 – 2574.
15. Steinbauer J.M., Schreml S., Kohl E.A., Karrer S., Landthaler M., Szeimies R.M. Photodynamic therapy in dermatology. Journal der Deutschen Dermatologischen Gesellschaft. 2010. Vol. 8 (6). P. 454 – 464.
16. Garg A.D., Bose M., Ahmed M.I., Bonass W.A., Wood S.R. In Vitro Studies on Erythrosine-Based Photodynamic Therapy of Malignant and Pre-Malignant Oral Epithelial Cells. PLoS One. 2012. Vol. 7 (4). e34475.
17. Garg A.D., Agostinis P. ER stress, autophagy and immunogenic cell death in photodynamic therapy-induced anti-cancer immune responses. Photochemical and Photobiological Sciences. 2014. Vol. 13(3). P. 474 – 487.
18. Allison R.R., Shibata C.H. Oncologic photodynamic therapy photosensitizers: a clinical review. Pho-todiagnosis and Photodynamic Therapy. 2010. Vol. 7. P. 61 – 75.
19. Almeida Issa M.C., Piñeiro-Maceira J., Farias R.E., Pureza M., Raggio Luiz R., Manela-Azulay M. Im-munohistochemical expression of matrix metalloproteinases in photodamaged skin by photodynamic therapy. British Journal of Dermatology. 2009. Vol. 161(3). P. 647 – 653.
20. M.S. Baptista, J. Cadet, P. Di Mascio, A.A. Ghogare, A. Greer, M.R. Hamblin, C. Lorente, S.C. Nun-ez, M.S. Ribeiro, A.H. Thomas, M. Vignoni, T.M. Yoshimura. Type I and type II photosensitized oxidation reactions: guidelines and mechanistic pathways. Photochemistry and Photobiology. 2017 Vol. 93(4). P. 912 – 919.
21. Ghorbani J., Rahban D., Aghamiri S., Teymouri A., Bahador A. Photosensitizers in antibacterial photodynamic therapy: an overview. Laser Therapy. 2018. Vol. 27(4). P. 293 – 302.
22. Di Stasio D., Romano A., Russo D., Fiori F., Laino L., Caponio V.C.A., Troiano G., Muzio L.L., Serpico R., Lucchese A. Photodynamic therapy using topical toluidine blue for the treatment of oral leu-koplakia: A prospective case series. Photodiagnosis and Photodynamic Therapy. 2020. Vol. 31. P. 101888.
23. Vanerio N., Stijnen M., de Mol B.A.J.M., Kock L.M. Biomedical Applications of Photo- and Sono-Activated Rose Bengal: A Review. Photobiomodulation, Photomedicine, and Laser Surgery. 2019. Vol. 37. P. 383 – 394.
24. Santezi C., Reina B.D., Dovigo L.N. Curcumin-mediated Photodynamic Therapy for the treatment of oral infections—A reviewю Photodiagnosis and Photodynamic Therapy. 2018. Vol. 21. P. 409 – 415.
25. Jendželovská Z., Jendželovský R., Kuchárová B., Fedoročko P. Hypericin in the Light and in the Dark: Two Sides of the Same Coinю Frontiers in Plant Science. 2016. Vol. 7. P. 560.
26. Aksenova N.A., Zhientaev T.M., Brilkina A.A., Dubasova L.V., Ivanov A.V., Timashev P.S., Melik-Nubarov N.S., Solovieva A.B. Polymers as enhancers of photodynamic activity of chlorin photosensitizers for photodynamic therapy. Photonics & Lasers in Medicine. 2013. Vol. 2(3). P. 189 – 198.
27. Xu J., Bonneviot L., Guari Y., Monnereau C., Zhang K., Poater A., Rodríguez-Pizarro M., Albela B. Matrix Effect on Singlet Oxygen Generation Using Methylene Blue as a Photosensitizer. Inorganics. 2024. Vol. 12. P. 155.
28. Yu Y., Liu Y., Chen Y., Chen J., Feng G., Tang B.Z. Cationic AIE-active photosensitizers for highly efficient photodynamic eradication of drug-resistant bacteria. Mater. Chem. Front. 2023. Vol. 7. P. 96 – 105.
29. Tegos G.P., Demidova T.N., Arcila-Lopez D., Lee H., Wharton T., Gali H., Hamblin M.R.. Cationic fullerenes are effective and selective antimicrobial photosensitizers. Chemistry & Biology. 2005. Vol. 12(10). P. 1127 – 1135.
30. George S., Hamblin M.R., Kishen A.. Uptake pathways of anionic and cationic photosensitizers into bacteria. Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences. 2009. Vol. 8. P.788 – 795.
31. Kardumyan V.V., Kuryanova A.S., Chernyak A.V., Aksenova N.A., Biryukov M.V., Glagolev N.N., Solovieva A.B. Effect of hyaluronic acid on the activity of methylene blue in photogeneration of 1O2. Molecules. 2024. Vol. 29. P. 5336.
32. Kardumyan V., Kuryanova A., Fayzullin A., Krivandin A., Mekhtiev A., Aksenova N., Shatalova O., Timoshenko O., Dalina A., Khristidis Y., Huang R-L., Li Q., Timashev P., Solovieva A. Effect of am-phiphilic polymers on the photodynamic activity of rose bengal in vitro and in vivo conditions. Laser Physics. 2025. Vol. 35. P. 015601.
33. Korrodi-Gregório L, Soto-Cerrato V, Vitorino R, Fardilha M, Pérez-Tomás R. From Proteomic Analysis to Potential Therapeutic Targets: Functional Profile of Two Lung Cancer Cell Lines, A549 and SW900, Widely Studied in Pre-Clinical Research. PLoS ONE. 2016. Vol. 11.e0165973.
34. Cooper J.R., Abdullatif M.B., Burnett E.C., Kempsell K.E., Conforti F., Tolley H., Collins J.E., Davies D.E. Long Term Culture of the A549 Cancer Cell Line Promotes Multilamellar Body Formation and Differentiation towards an Alveolar Type II Pneumocyte Phenotype. PLoS ONE. 2016. Vol 11. e0164438.
35. Langthaler S., Rienmüller T., Scheruebel S., Pelzmann B., Shrestha N., Zorn-Pauly K., Schreibmayer W., Koff A., Baumgartner C. A549 in-silico 1.0: A first computational model to simulate cell cycle dependent ion current modulation in the human lung adenocarcinoma. PLoS Comput Biol. 2021. Vol. 17.e1009091.
36. Mousavi S.H., Tavakkol-Afshari J., Brook A., Jafari-Anarkooli I. Direct toxicity of Rose Bengal in MCF-7 cell line: Role of apoptosis. Food and Chemical Toxicology. 2009. Vol. 47. P. 855 – 859.
37. da Veiga Moreira J., Nleme N., Schwartz L., Leclerc-Desaulniers K., Carmona E., Mes-Masson A.M., Jolicoeur M. Methylene blue metabolic therapy restrains in vivo ovarian tumor growth. Cancers. 2024. Vol. 16. P. 355.
38. Batrakova E.V., Dorodnych T.Y., Klinskii E.Y., Kliushnenkova E.N., Shemchukova O.B., Goncharova O.N., Arjakov S.A., Alakhov V.Y., Kabanov A.V. Anthracycline antibiotics non-covalently incorporated into the block copolymer micelles: in vivo evaluation of anti-cancer activity. British Journal of Cancer. 1996. Vol. 74. P. 1545 – 1552.
39. Rudenko T.G., Shekhter A.B., Guller A.E., Aksenova N.A., Glagolev N.N., Ivanov A.V., Aboyants R.K., Kotova S.L., Solovieva A.B. Specific features of early stage of the wound healing process occurring against the background of photodynamic therapy using fotoditazin photosensitizer-amphiphilic polymer complexes. Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology. 2014. Vol. 90. P. 1413 – 1422.
40. Kuryanova A.S., Savko M.A., Kaplin V.S., Aksenova N.A., Timofeeva V.A., Chernyak A.V., Glagolev N.N., Timashev P.S., Solovieva A.B. Effect of Amphiphilic Polymers on the Activity of Rose Bengal during the Photooxidation of Tryptophan in an Aqueous Medium. Russian Journal of Physical Chemistry A. 2022. Vol. 96. P. 1106 – 1111.
41. Pominova D.V., Ryabova A.V., Romanishkin I.D., Markova I.V., Akhlustina E. V., Skobeltsin A.S. Spectroscopic study of methylene blue photophysical properties in biological media. Biomedical Photonics. 2023. Vol. 12 (2). P. 34 – 47.
42. Kim S., Jo S., Kim M.S., Shin D.H. A study of Rose Bengal against a 2-keto-3-deoxy-d-manno-octulosonate cytidylyltransferase as an antibiotic candidate. Journal of Enzyme Inhibition and Medicinal Chemistry. 2020. Vol. 35(1). P. 1414 – 1421.
43. Ergaieg K., Seux R. A comparative study of the photoinactivation of bacteria by meso-substituted cationic porphyrin, rose Bengal and methylene blue. Desalination. 2009. Vol. 246. P. 353 – 362.
Aksenova N.A., Kuryanova A.S., Kardumyan V.V., Kopylov A.S., Shershnev I.V., Biryukov M.V., Mehdiev A.R., Timashev P.S., Solovieva A.B. Effect of amphiphilic polymers on the photodynamic activity of methylene blue and rose bengal in vitro experiments. Chemical Bulletin. 2025. 8 (4). 5. https://doi.org/10.58224/2619-0575-2025-8-4-5