Photocytotoxicity, cellular uptake and subcellular localization of amidinophenylporphyrins as potential photodynamic therapeutic agents: An in vitro cell study

The photocytotoxicity, cellular uptake and subcellular localization tests of Por1, Por2 and Por3 against the tumor cells were investigated. The results showed that bisporphyrin compound (Por3) with good hydrophobic/hydrophilic balance shows a better cellular uptake in HK-1 than that of other porphyrins with a single hydrophilic substituent. The confocal microscopy study shows that Por1, Por2 and Por3 were only localized with different density in lysosomal, while H2TMPyP was found both in lysosomal and mitochondria of HK-1.