Laser irradiation of human skin tissue after gold nanoparticles injection for thermal ablation processes - a combined experimental and numerical approach

Marta Cecotka; Piotr Radomski; Paweł Ziółkowski; Agata Tymińska; Katarzyna Czerwiec; Jacek Zieliński; Yue Dong; Christian Rossner; Francesca Petronella; Magdalena Narajczyk; Jakub Karczewski; Luciano De Sio; Michał Pikuła; Dariusz Mikielewicz

doi:10.1038/s41598-025-17459-3

Laser irradiation of human skin tissue after gold nanoparticles injection for thermal ablation processes - a combined experimental and numerical approach

Sci Rep. 2025 Oct 2;15(1):34422. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-17459-3.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Ship Technology, Gdańsk University of Technology, Institute of Energy, Narutowicza 11/12, 80-233, Gdańsk, Poland.
² Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Ship Technology, Gdańsk University of Technology, Institute of Energy, Narutowicza 11/12, 80-233, Gdańsk, Poland. pawel.ziolkowski1@pg.edu.pl.
³ Laboratory of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, Division of Embryology, Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Medical University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland.
⁴ Laboratory of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, Division of Clinical Anatomy, Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Medical University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland.
⁵ Department of Oncologic Surger, Medical University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland.
⁶ Leibniz-Institut für Polymerforschung Dresden e.V., Hohe Straße 6, 01069, Dresden, Germany.
⁷ Faculty of Chemistry and Food Chemistry, Technische Universität Dresden, 01069, Dresden, Germany.
⁸ Department of Polymers, University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Technická 5, Prague 6, 166 28, Czech Republic.
⁹ National Research Council of Italy, Institute of Crystallography CNR-IC, Montelibretti Division, Area Territoriale di Ricerca di Roma 1 Strada Provinciale 35d, Montelibretti, 00010, Italy.
¹⁰ Faculty of Biology, Bioimaging Laboratory, University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland.
¹¹ Faculty of Applied Physics and Mathematics, Gdańsk University of Technology, Institute of Nanotechnology and Materials Engineering, Narutowicza 11/12, 80-233, Gdańsk, Poland.
¹² Department of Medico-Surgical Sciences and Biotechnologies, Sapienza University of Rome, Corso della Repubblica 79, 04100, Latina, Italy.

Abstract

In recent years, investigation of new or combined therapeutic modalities for cancer treatment lead to relevant scientific advances. Among these innovative therapeutic modalities photothermal therapy (PTT) attracts attention as an alternative or complementary possibility to current anti-cancer treatments as it allows for the selective ablation of cancer cells. In the present study, PTT is investigated by using gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) as photothermal transducers. AuNPs are injected into human skin and used for PTT-assisted tumor ablation. The effectiveness of the PTT is evaluated as a function of AuNPs morphology, dimensions and the wavelength of the laser source. Five different laser sources with wavelengths ranging from 465 to 980 nm are used. The experimental findings point out that 808 and 980 nm are the optimal laser wavelengths for the PTT of human skin. Especially gold nanorods stabilized by poly(ethylene glycol) layer are identified as effective photothermal transducers. The experimental results are fully corroborated by numerical calculations. The outcomes emphasize the potential and the relevance of synthetically tailoring AuNPs particularly in optimizing their optical properties and assessing the effects of AuNP aggregation for specific applications.

Keywords: Gold nanoparticles; Human skin; Laser irradiation; Photo-thermal ablation.

MeSH terms

Gold* / administration & dosage
Gold* / chemistry
Humans
Laser Therapy* / methods
Lasers
Metal Nanoparticles* / administration & dosage
Metal Nanoparticles* / chemistry
Photothermal Therapy* / methods
Skin* / drug effects
Skin* / radiation effects

Substances

Gold

Abstract

MeSH terms

Substances

Grants and funding