Photodynamic Inactivation Of Candida Albicans Using Porphyrin Derivatives as Photosensitizers

Previous studies show that photodynamic inactivation (PDI) is an effective treatment for microbial infection and viral infection. It has been demonstrated in antimicrobial photodynamic inactivation, the use of porphyrin as photosensitizer (PS), a light-absorbing agent, upon illumination of visible light causes cell damage and ultimately lead to cell death.  The growing resistance against antifungal drugs has brought the attention to seek for alternative and inexpensive treatments for fungal infections. We are interested in investigating the antifungal properties of porphyrin derivates as photosensitizer in photodynamic inactivation toward Candida Albicans (C. Albicans).  We purpose that porphyrin derivatives can mediate the photodynamic inactivation of C. Albicans. We predict porphyrin-derived photosensitizer completely kills yeast cells at low PS concentration and cationic porphyrins should be more effective as photosensitizer than anionic porphyrins.  The efficacy of porphyrin derivates as photosensitizer towards treatment of yeast infection is examined by its PS concentration, PS binding affinity, and illumination time.