ИСТИНА

We prepared highly fluorescent amphiphilic porous silicon nanoparticles (αφ-PSiNPs), i.e. containing hydrophobic octadecylsilane-grafted inner surface of PSiNPs and hydrophilic SiO2 outer surface. The PSiNPs are ready for loading of hydrophobic drugs such as paclitaxel (PTX) and for tracking by fluorescence microscopy. Hydrophobic surface lowers ultrasonic cavitation threshold (2-3 times), which was applied to selectively eliminate cancer cells containing αφ-PSiNPs. Thus, αφ-PSiNPs act as multimodal cancer theranostics agents, possessing contrasting properties as fluorescent labels and ultrasonic active nanobubbles and providing therapy via drug delivery and local enhancement of applied ultrasound. Simultaneously, hydrophilic outer surface of αφ-PSiNPs provided good biocompatibility of nanoparticles.