Development of a practical animal model of photodynamic therapy using a high concentration of extracellular talaporfin sodium in interstitial fluid: influence of albumin animal species on myocardial cell photocytotoxicity in vitro

Photodynamic reaction-induced photocytotoxicity using talaporfin sodium is inhibited by serum proteins binding to talaporfin sodium. The serum albumin binding site for talaporfin sodium differs among animal species. To identify a practical animal therapeutic model, we studied the ability of human, canine, bovine, and porcine albumin to influence talaporfin sodium-induced photocytotoxicity in rat myocardial cells in vitro. Human, canine, bovine, and porcine serum albumins were used. The ratio of talaporfin sodium binding, which is strongly associated with photocytotoxicity, was measured by ultrafiltration with an albumin concentration of 0.5–20 mg/ml and 20 μg/ml talaporfin sodium to mimic interstitial fluid. Rat myocardial cell lethality was measured by the WST assay 2 h after samples were exposed to a radiant exposure of 20 J/cm² by a red diode laser (Optical Fuel™, Sony, Tokyo, Japan) with a wavelength of 663 nm. The binding ratio dependence on albumin concentration differed among the animal species. Bovine albumin exhibited the largest difference from human albumin, with a maximum difference of 31% at 2 mg/ml albumin. The cell lethality characteristic was similar between human and canine albumin. The cell lethality dependence on albumin was not in the same order as the binding ratio. Cell lethality was lowest for human albumin with higher albumin concentrations between 5 and 20 mg/ml. There were no significant differences in cell lethality between bovine and porcine albumin and between human and canine albumin. We suggest that the canine model may be a useful animal therapeutic model for evaluating photodynamic therapy using a high concentration of the photosensitizer in the extracellular space.