DIATOM SURFACE MODIFICATION, DRUG LOADING AND LIGHT INDUCED RELEASE AND ACTIVATION

Abstract

Drug delivery has been an important step in medical treatment. Different drugs need to reach their targets before they can realise their functions. Diatom, a special kind of algae with unique silica cell wall, has been studied for their potential role as drug carrier. However, in most cases, researchers only used their biosilica as drug loading unit instead of keeping the diatoms whole and alive. A benthic diatom species Gyrosigma were collected from local beaches. Growth rate and elemental composition of the diatom were analysed. Some surface modifications were performed on the diatom silica cell wall, including magnetic nanoparticle loading, -NH2 and -SH functionalization. Phototaxis feature of diatom was also studied. Then the drug loading capability of this diatom was tested with a common type of chemotherapy drug doxorubicin. A phenomenon was discovered that light was able to induce the drug-loaded diatom to release its contents and activate the killing effect of doxorubicin on cancer cell line A431.