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Recent advances in NIR triggering upconversion-based photodynamic therapy have led to substantial improvements in upconversion-based nanophotosensitizers. How to obtain the high efficiency of singlet oxygen generation under low 980 nm radiation dosage still remains a challenge. A highly efficient nanophotosensitizer, denoted as UCNPs-ZnPc, was constructed for photodynamic therapy, which is based on near infrared (NIR) light upconversion nanoparticle (UCNP) and Zn(II)-phthalocyanine (ZnPc) photosensitizer (PS). The high (1)O2 production efficiency came from the enhancement of the 660 nm upconversion emission of NaYF4:Yb(3+), Er(3+) UCNP with 25% Yb(3+) doping, covalent assemblage of UCNP and ZnPc which significantly shortened the distance and enhanced the energy transfer between the two. The high (1)O2 production led to a secure and efficient PDT treatment, as evidenced by the in vivo test where UCNPs-ZnPc of 50 mg per kg body weight was locally injected into the liver tumor in mice, a low 980 nm radiation dose of 351 J/cm(2) (0.39 W/cm(2)) and short irradiation duration of 15 min were sufficient to perform image-guided PDT and caused the liver tumor inhibitory ratio of approximately 80.1%. Histological analysis revealed no pathological changes and inflammatory response in heart, lung, kidney, liver or spleen., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Abstract: Non-invasive assay for the early stage diagnosis of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus ( MRSA ) related pneumonia is of great clinical importance and still a great challenge. In this paper, we reported a novel kind of Au@Ag core–shell theranostic nanoparticles (NPs) conjugated with MRSA specific antibody on their surface. Compared with the raw Au@Ag NPs, these antibody modified NPs (AAMA NPs) showed 10.66 fold enhancement targeting to the MRSA in vitro. In vivo target efficacy was measured with rats bearing pneumonia induced by different pathogens. Computed tomography (CT) results revealed that these AAMA NPs had higher CT contrast enhancement (498 HU), than those of raw Au@Ag and Omnipaque (oth <100 HU). In addition, lesions labeled by AAMA NPs could be distinguished from lung parenchyma by taking advantage of spectra CT. Bio-distribution analysis confirmed that these AAMA NPs accumulated in the MRSA rich site. Both BAL and Elisa assays indicated that these AAMA NPs greatly alleviated the inflammation reaction by reducing bacterial proliferation and cytokine production. Pathological study showed that these NPs exerted negligible long term cytotoxicity in vivo. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]