Polymeric micelles as a strategy to optimize the properties of phenazine photosensitizers ?

JIMENA VARA; SOLEDAD GUALDESI; MARIANA A. FERNÁNDEZ; CRISTINA ORTIZ

Rosario

Conferencia; 6ta Reunión internacional de Ciencias Farmacéuticas, RICiFa 2020+1; 2021

RICIFA

In the search for ideal photosensitizers (PSs), interest arose in phenazine compounds, such as Neutral Red (NR) and its halogenated derivative (NRBr). Although they have shown very good results in the inactivation of Staphylococcus aureus in its free form, in aqueous solution, they have some undesirable properties that could be overcome by using drug delivery systems. On this occasion, the use of polymeric micelles was proposed for the development of nanophotosensitizers from Pluronics P-123 and F-108.The micellar systems developed in this work had a size close to 30-40 nm and allowed obtaining seven nanophotosensitizers. All of them increased the chemical stability of NRBr in buffer solution of pH=7.4 and did not affect the stability of NR, which was already stable in this medium. Furthermore, the Pluronics micelles markedly decreased the aggregation of PSs and increased their photochemical reactivity. The nanophotosensitizers prepared from Pluronics P-123 micelles (5% w/v) were the ones with the best results. Therefore, it is concluded that these polymeric micelles are a successful alternative for the vehiculization of NR and NRBr since they allow optimizing the properties of these compounds. The new nanophotosensitizers are excellent candidates for their application in the inactivation of Gram-positive bacteria