A. Villanueva et al., MORPHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF AN EXPERIMENTAL TUMOR PHOTOSENSITIZED WITH AMESOSUBSTITUTED CATIONIC PORPHYRIN, Journal of photochemistry and photobiology.B, Biology, 23(1), 1994, pp. 49-56
The meso-substituted cationic porphyrin, meso-tetra(4N-methyl-pyridyl)
porphine (T(4)MP(y)P) appears to be a selective tumour localizer on th
e basis of pharmacokinetic studies. Irradiation (at 600-680 nm) of an
intramuscularly implanted MS-2 fibrosarcoma in Balb/c mice at 24 h aft
er injection of T(4)MP(y)P causes tumour necrosis: histological and ul
trastructural analyses of tumour specimens taken at different times af
ter phototherapy indicate slowly-appearing tissue damage which involve
s both malignant cells and the vascular endothelium. At the subcellula
r level, the membranous systems and nuclei are the main targets of the
photoprocess. The tumour necrosis is particularly extensive upon inje
ction of 4.1 mg kg(-1) T(4)MP(y)P.