Figures & data
Figure 1. Gas chromatograms of SWCNT-Cur. Dimethyl formamide (DMF) was used to fully dissolve preparation for detecting the residual methanol. (A) DMF, (B) methanol and DMF, (C) SWCNT-Cur and DMF.
Figure 2. IR spectra of SWCNT-Cur. (A) native curcumin, (B) SWCNT-Cur, (C) void carriers. Arrows indicate the − C = C − conjugated aromatic skeleton vibration of curcumin.
Figure 3. Cellular uptake of 40 μM curcumin (both native and SWCNT-Cur). (A) Confocal images of cells at different times. (B) Quantification of curcumin uptaken by PC-3 cells treated 4 h. #p < .05 vs. curcumin group.
Figure 4. Concentration of curcumin in plasma after intravenous administration of SWCNT-Cur and native curcumin.
Figure 5. Injection of SWCNT-Cur suppresses S180 solid tumor growth in vivo. (A) The tumor photograph after 7 times of administration. A1, control; A2, control + Laser; A3, SWCNT; A4, SWCNT + Laser; A5, curcumin; A6, curcumin + Laser; A7, SWCNT-Cur; A8, SWCNT-Cur + Laser. (B) Inhibition rate of S180 tumor weight in vivo. **p < .01 vs. relative control group, △p < .05 vs. curcumin group, #p < .05 vs. SWCNT group with laser irradiation. ■p < .05 vs. SWCNT-Cur group without laser irradiation (C) Growth curves of different groups for tumor volume. The SWCNT-Cur group shows significant suppression of tumor growth compared with the control group (p < .05).
Figure 6. Hematoxylin and eosin staining of heart, liver, spleen, lung, kidney and tumor sections in mice. (A) Control; (B) control + laser; (C) SWCNT; (D) SWCNT + Laser; (E) curcumin; (F) curcumin + Laser; (G) SWCNT-Cur; (H) SWCNT-Cur + Laser.
Figure 7. Summary of the mechanisms by which SWCNT-Cur more inhibits tumor growth than curcumin. SWCNT-Cr enhanced the delivery of curcumin into tumor cells, improved the blood level of curcumin and further ablated the tumor growth via SWCNT induced photothermal effect. All of above mentioned aspects synergistically enhanced anti-tumor of SWCNT-Cur.
