초록 |
Melanin absorbs light in various wavelength regions, but not dissolving in biological fluids. In this study, melanin was conjugated with polyethylene glycol (PEG) to increase availability for biomedical applications. Melanin-PEG conjugate (Mel-PEG) was self assembled in water and the mean diameter of nanoparticles was 237.8 nm. The nanoparticles did not show any precipitation in water. 1H NMR results confirmed that the PEG peaks were newly formed. Mel-PEG solution was injected into the thigh muscle of a mouse and exposed to 808 nm NIR laser with a power density of 1.5 W/cm2. Due to the intrinsic photothermal properties of melanin, the temperature of injection site was elevated to 65.4℃ after laser irradiation within 3 min. These results suggest that Mel-PEG nanoparticles has great potential as a phothothermal agent for photothermal cancer therapy. |