Abstract:

Indocyanine green(ICG) has been exploited as a photosensitizer for use in

cancerous phototherapy including breast, brain, and skin tumors. Although ICG is

of particular advantage for use in cancer phototherapy, it adversely tends to

disintegrate in aqueous medium and such degradation can be markedly accelerated

by light irradiation (photodegradation) and/or heating (thermal degradation).

Furthermore, ICG after administered intravenously will be readily bound with

blood proteins and hence leads to only 2±4 min of plasmatic half-life. Among

various pharmaceutical polymers, poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) is the

copolymer of poly(lactic acid) and poly(glycolic acid) and is one of the best

defined biomaterials with FDA approval for drug encapsulation due to its

biocompatibility, biodegradability, and controllability for drug release. This review

show that novel applications of PLGA polymers as nanocarrier for ICG to improve

of physicochemical properties of ICG such as Half-life.