Photodynamic inactivation of bacterial and fungal pathogens is a promising alternative to the extensive use of conventional single-target antibiotics and antifungal agents. The combination of photosensitizers and adjuvants can improve the photodynamic inactivation efficiency. In this regard, it has been shown that the use of potassium iodide (KI) as adjuvant increases pathogen killing. Following our interest in this topic, we performed the co-encapsulation of a neutral porphyrin photosensitizer (designated as P1) and KI into micelles and tested the obtained nanoformulations against the human pathogenic fungus Candida albicans. The results of this study showed that the micelles containing P1 and KI displayed a better photodynamic performance towards C. albicans than P1 and KI in solution. It is noteworthy that higher concentrations of KI within the micelles resulted in increased killing of C. albicans. Subcellular localization studies by confocal fluorescence microscopy revealed that P1 was localized in the cell cytoplasm, but not in the nuclei or mitochondria. Overall, our results show that a nanoformulation containing a photosensitizer plus an adjuvant is a promising approach for increasing the efficiency of photodynamic treatment. Actually, the use of this strategy allows a considerable decrease in the amount of both photosensitizer and adjuvant required to achieve pathogen killing.

中文翻译：

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高效卟啉和碘化钾共包裹在胶束中的白色念珠菌的光动力学灭活。

细菌和真菌病原体的光动力灭活是广泛使用常规单靶标抗生素和抗真菌剂的有希望的替代方法。光敏剂和佐剂的组​​合可以提高光动力灭活效率。在这方面，已经显示碘化钾（KI）作为佐剂的使用增加了病原体的杀灭。遵循我们对该主题的兴趣后，我们将中性卟啉光敏剂（称为P1）和KI共封装到微胶粒中，并测试了针对人类病原性真菌白色念珠菌的纳米制剂。这项研究的结果表明，含有P1和KI的胶束对光的表现出更好的光动力学性能。白色念珠菌比P1和KI在溶液中。值得注意的是，胶束中较高的KI浓度导致白色念珠菌的杀灭率增加。通过共聚焦荧光显微镜进行的亚细胞定位研究表明，P1定位于细胞质中，而不位于细胞核或线粒体中。总体而言，我们的结果表明，包含光敏剂和佐剂的纳米制剂是提高光动力治疗效率的有前途的方法。实际上，使用该策略可以显着减少实现致病菌杀死所需的光敏剂和佐剂的量。