Fig. 5
In vivo synergistic photothermal-augmented chemotherapy against 4T1 breast cancer. a Body-weight changes of the Kunming mice in the biocompatibility evaluation. b Body distribution of Cu in the major organs (heart, liver, spleen, lung, and kidney) and tumor after administration of HCu for varied time durations (2, 6, 12, and 24 h). c Temperature elevation of tumor region in 4T1 tumor-bearing mice under irradiation of 808-nm laser at the laser density of 1.5 W/cm2 for 600 s with or without the assistance of intravenously administrated HCu or DSF@HCu and (d) their corresponding heating curve. e Bodyweight changes of 4T1 tumor-bearing mice with different treatment: PBS (i.v.), DSF + CuGlu (i.g.), DSF@HMONs (i.v.), DSF@HCu (i.v.), PTT, HCu (i.v.) + PTT, and DSF@HCu (i.v.) + PTT. f H&E-stained histological images of the heart, liver, spleen, lung, and kidney in the biocompatibility evaluation. Scale bar: 50 μm. g Digital photographs of the dissected tumors from each group after 14 days of treatments. Scale bar: 1.0 cm. h Tumor volumes for each group of mice recorded every 2 days after different treatments. i Tumor inhibition rate from each group after 14 days of treatments. j Digital photographs of 4T1-tumorbearing mice and their tumor regions after different treatments. k H&E-stained histological images of tumor tissues. l Ki-67-stained cellular proliferation in tumor tissues sections. Scale bar: 50 μm. Error bars in the graphs (a, b, e, h, i) represent standard deviation (n = 5). *p < 0.05, calculated by one-way ANOVA test. &p < 0.05, calculated by repeated measure ANOVA test