Synthesis and Characterization of Chloroaluminium Phthalocyanine Incorporated in PLA/Gelatin Bionanocomposites for Photodynamic Therapy

Development delivery systems, such as nanoparticles, represent a growing area in biomedical research. Nanoparticles were prepared using a combination of two methods, the desolvation / emulsion technique using poly (lactic acid) (PLA) and gelatin (nPLA-G) forming a bionanocomposites which are hybrid materials composed of a biodegradable material and a nanodimensional material. Chloroaluminum phthalocyanine (ClAlPc) was chose as photosensitizer (PS). ClAlPc is a second generation of photosensitizer used in photodynamic therapy (PDT). ClAlPc loaded nanoparticles (nPLA-G/ClAlPc) were prepared using the same process. The PLA-gelatin nanoparticles were successfully prepared by the combination of desolvation / emulsion technique. The nanoparticles presented uniform size and spherical shape. The mean nanoparticle size was 655.1 ± 202.8 nm for nPLA-G (PDI = 0.163) and 772.2 ± 239.4 nm for nPLA-G/ClAlPc (PDI = 0.134). The zeta potential for nPLA-G and nPLA-G/ClAlPc revealed an average value of + 10.0 ± 3.15 mV and + 15.9 ± 3.29 mV, respectively. ClAlPc loaded nanoparticles maintain its photophysical behavior after encapsulation. The encapsulation efficiency was of 90.89 ± 7.55%. All the physical–chemical and photophysical measurements performed allow us to reinforce the idea of a new nanoparticle, composed of PLA and gelatin, as drug delivery systems for PDT.