{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,26]],"date-time":"2026-03-26T09:27:00Z","timestamp":1774517220240,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":55,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,12]],"date-time":"2022-10-12T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1665532800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Pharmacol."],"abstract":"<jats:p>The objective of this study was to evaluate the <jats:italic>in vivo<\/jats:italic> application and photothermal ablation effects and mechanism of copper sulfide nanoparticles (CuS NPs) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Sheet-like CuS-BSA NPs with a particle size of 30\u00a0nm were synthesized using bovine serum albumin (BSA) as a biological modifier, and were physically characterized. To provide a reference range for the biosafety dose of CuS-BSA NPs, 36 male Kunming mice were randomly assigned into six groups. Different one-time doses of CuS-BSA NPs were injected <jats:italic>via<\/jats:italic> tail vein injection, and the potential damages of liver, kidney and spleen were observed 14\u00a0days later. To evaluate the <jats:italic>in vivo<\/jats:italic> photothermal effect of CuS-BSA NPs, 48 male Kunming mice were used to establish the H22 hepatoma-bearing mouse model and were randomly assigned into six groups. CuS-BSA NPs (600\u00a0\u03bcg\/kg) were injected <jats:italic>via<\/jats:italic> tail vein or intratumoral injection. Irradiations were performed 30\u00a0min after injection, with a 980\u00a0nm near-infrared laser (2.0\u00a0W\/cm<jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup>) for 10\u00a0min once a week for 3\u00a0weeks. The results indicated that the CuS-BSA NPs had good dispersibility in three different solvents and had a strong absorption peak at 980\u00a0nm. The heating curves demonstrated that the photothermal effects of CuS-BSA NPs aqueous solution exhibited concentration dependence and power density dependence. In the <jats:italic>in vivo<\/jats:italic> experiment, when the doses of CuS-BSA NPs were in the range of 1800\u20137,200\u00a0\u03bcg\/kg, the thymus index and spleen index of mice were not significantly different from those of the control group, and the structures of liver, kidney and spleen were intact without remarkable pathological changes. A lower dose of CuS-BSA NPs (600\u00a0\u03bcg\/kg) could effectively inhibit tumor growth in H22 hepatoma-bearing mice at 980\u00a0nm NIR. Moreover, under the near-infrared laser irradiation, both in the tail vein injection group and the intratumoral injection group, a large area of necrosis in the tumor tissue, as well as the up-regulation of apoptotic proteins including cleaved caspase-3 and cleaved caspase-9 were observed. CuS-BSA NPs are promising photothermal agents in the photothermal therapy of cancer.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fphar.2022.1029986","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,12]],"date-time":"2022-10-12T05:07:00Z","timestamp":1665551220000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":12,"title":["Photothermal effects of CuS-BSA nanoparticles on H22 hepatoma-bearing mice"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Xinyu","family":"Dun","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Shuliang","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Nan","family":"Ge","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Meng","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ming","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jun","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Hongxu","family":"Bao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Benying","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Hua","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Lianhua","family":"Cui","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,12]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"612","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tibtech.2008.07.007","article-title":"Nanoparticles as vehicles for delivery of photodynamic therapy agents","volume":"26","author":"Bechet","year":"2008","journal-title":"Trends Biotechnol."},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"815","DOI":"10.1038\/nnano.2011.166","article-title":"Accumulation of sub-100 nm polymeric micelles in poorly permeable tumours depends on size","volume":"6","author":"Cabral","year":"2011","journal-title":"Nat. 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