Correlation of cytotoxicity and depth of necrosis of the photoproducts of photogem®

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is an approved modality for cancer treatment, which involves the administration of a photosensitive drug (PS) that is selectively accumulated in neoplastic tissues and their vasculature and subsequently can be activated with light at the appropriate wavelength to generate reactive molecular species that are toxic to tissues. In PDT, a great part of the used PS suffers degradation by light (photobleaching) that involves a decrease in the absorption and intensity of fluorescence of the photosensitizer as well as photoproduct formation evidenced by the appearance of a new absorption band. In this study, we investigated the correlation of cytotoxicity and depth of necrosis of Photogem and its photoproducts obtained previously by irradiation at 514 and 630 nm. The cytotoxicity for degraded Photogem decreases with the previous irradiation time of Photogem solution suggesting that the photoproducts of Photogem are less cytotoxics than the original formulation. A transition between the necrosed epithelium and healthy epithelium of normal liver of rats after irradiation at 630 nm was observed with irradiated and nonirradiated PS. It is observed that the depth of necrosis only at irradiation dose of 150 J/cm² in both concentrations is greater for Photogem followed by Photogem degradated previously at 514 and then at 630 nm. The results obtained suggest that the threshold of necrosis values is lower for Photogem followed by its photoproducts formed, suggesting that the photoproducts present a low photodynamic activity. If the photosensitizer degradation happens at the same time as tumor destruction, the drug degradation can be complete before reaching the threshold of necrosis; then it is very important to control the drug concentration and light intensity of irradiation during PDT.