Liposomes made from phospholipids and containing sulforhodamine dye (1-50 mM) have been irradiated with nanosecond and picosecond laser pulses. Individual liposomes were locally heated by laser absorption of dye dimers during a single laser pulse, and heating was sufficient to release the liposome contents. The extent of dye release produced by a single laser pulse was shown to be quantitativel...

Currently available cancer therapies can cause damage to healthy tissue. We developed a unique method for specific mechanical lysis of cancer cells using superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticle rotation under a weak alternating magnetic field. Iron oxide core nanoparticles were coated with cetuximab, an anti-epidermal growth factor receptor antibody, for specific tumor targeting. Nude mice be...

A photon-to-thermal conversion nanosystem has been developed to rapidly elevate temperatures in poorly thermally conducting media using irradiation of gold nanorods. We first hypothesized that nanoparticles, especially gold nanorods, are capable of generating enough heat to lyse bacteria by heating sample solutions via laser irradiation. To test this, we synthesized Au nanorods (aspect ratio 3-...

Neutrophils, triggered by heat-aggregated human IgG (Agg.IgG), were found to lyse chicken red blood cells (CRBC) as determined by a 51Cr release method. The lysis was inhibited by azide, catalase, chloride-free medium and amino acids, suggesting the requirement for myeloperoxidase (MPO), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), chloride ions (Cl-), and hypochlorous acid (HOC1), respectively. These results ind...