Titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO₂ NPs) can act as sonosensitizers, generating reactive oxygen species under ultrasound irradiation, for use in sonodynamic therapy. For TiO₂ NPs delivery, we prepared polyion complex micelles incorporating TiO₂ NPs (TiO₂ NPs-PIC micelles) by mixing TiO₂ NPs with polyallylamine bearing poly(ethylene glycol) grafts. In this study, the effects of polymer composition and ultrasound irradiation conditions on the sonodynamic therapeutic effect toward HeLa cells were evaluated experimentally using cell viability evaluation, intracellular distribution observation, and a cell staining assay. TiO₂ NPs-PIC micelles with widely distributed features induced a significant decrease in cell viability under ultrasound irradiation. Furthermore, prolonging the irradiation time killed cells more effectively than did increasing the ultrasound power. The combination of TiO₂ NP-PIC micelles and ultrasound irradiation was confirmed to induce apoptotic cell death.
Keywords: Titanium dioxide nanoparticles; polyion complex micelles; sonodynamic therapy.