Lakshmanan, AnbharasiAkasov, Roman A.Sholina, Natalya V.Demina, Polina A.Generalova, Alla N.Gangadharan, AjithkumarSardar, Dhiraj K.Lankamsetty, Krishna BharatKhochenkov, Dmitry A.Khaydukov, Evgeny V.Gudkov, Sergey V.Jayaraman, ManonmaniJayaraman, Senthilselvan2021-09-252021-09-252021-08-29Nanomaterials 11 (9): 2234 (2021)https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12588/686Formulation of promising anticancer herbal drug curcumin as a nanoscale-sized curcumin (nanocurcumin) improved its delivery to cells and organisms both in vitro and in vivo. We report on coupling nanocurcumin with upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) using Poly (lactic-co-glycolic Acid) (PLGA) to endow visualisation in the near-infrared transparency window. Nanocurcumin was prepared by solvent-antisolvent method. NaYF4:Yb,Er (UCNP1) and NaYF4 :Yb,Tm (UCNP2) nanoparticles were synthesised by reverse microemulsion method and then functionalized it with PLGA to form UCNP-PLGA nanocarrier followed up by loading with the solvent-antisolvent process synthesized herbal nanocurcumin. The UCNP samples were extensively characterised with XRD, Raman, FTIR, DSC, TGA, UV-VIS-NIR spectrophotometer, Upconversion spectrofluorometer, HRSEM, EDAX and Zeta Potential analyses. UCNP1-PLGA-nanocurcumin exhibited emission at 520, 540, 660 nm and UCNP2-PLGA-nanocurmin showed emission at 480 and 800 nm spectral bands. UCNPPLGA-nanocurcumin incubated with rat glioblastoma cells demonstrated moderate cytotoxicity, 60–80% cell viability at 0.12–0.02 mg/mL marginally suitable for therapeutic applications. The cytotoxicity of UCNPs evaluated in tumour spheroids models confirmed UCNP-PLGA-nanocurcumin therapeutic potential. As-synthesised curcumin-loaded nanocomplexes were administered in tumourbearing laboratory animals (Lewis lung cancer model) and showed adequate contrast to enable in vivo and ex vivo study of UCNP-PLGA-nanocurcumin bio distribution in organs, with dominant distribution in the liver and lungs. Our studies demonstrate promise of nanocurcumin-loaded upconversion nanoparticles for theranostics applications.Attribution 4.0 United Stateshttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/upconversion nanoparticlestheranosticsnanocurcuminherbal drugsintravital imagingArticle2021-09-25