SYNTHESIS OF CALCIUM PHOSPHATE NANOSTRUCTURES BY COMBUSTION IN SOLUTION AS A POTENTIAL ENCAPSULANT SYSTEM OF DRUGS WITH PHOTODYNAMIC PROPERTIES FOR THE TREATMENT OF CUTANEOUS LEISHMANIASIS

Publication date: Available online 2 December 2017
Source:Photodiagnosis and Photodynamic Therapy
Author(s): A.A Lopera, A. Montoya, I.D. Vélez, S.M. Robledo, C.P. Garcia
The traditional drugs used in the treatment of cutaneous leishmanisis (CL) have multiple disadvantages, such as high toxicity, high costs, and more recently the appearance of parasites resistant to those drugs. For this reason, some research has focused on the development of new drugs or treatment therapies. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) that involves the use of a photosensitive or photosensitizing compound capable of producing reactive oxygen species to which Leishmania parasites are sensitive, has emerged as an alternative for the treatment of CL. However, some of these sensitizing compounds exhibit some toxicity (cytotoxicity, allergic reaction, etc), low selectivity, and some of them are insoluble in aqueous media limiting their use. Therefore, the PDT can be improved using encapsulation systems which protect drugs, prevent their degradation, help them overcome physical barriers and increase their selectivity. In this study, we propose the use of calcium phosphate as a potential encapsulant or photodynamic support for photoactive drugs, using hypericin (HY) as a photosensitizer agent. The self-combustion route was used to synthesize the CP nanostructures. The structure and morphology of CP nanoparticles were evaluated via X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman and field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). Phases rich in hydroxyapatite and CP β phase, with granular morphology and an average grain size of 42.9nm were obtained. The encapsulation uptake and the interactions between HY and the encapsulated system were evaluated by fluorescence spectroscopy and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), respectively. Approximately 13% of HY was enapsulated per 1μg of nanoparticles of calcium phosphate. Composites were submitted to in vitro assays of cytotoxicity and anti-leishmanial activity. The CP nanoparticles did not affect the photodynamic activity of HY. On the contrary they showed antileishmanial response.

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