Bioluminescent microcapsules: applications in activating a photosensitizer.

Bioluminescent microcapsules uploading D-luciferin have been fabricated by using the covalent assembly of firefly luciferase and alginate dialdehyde through a layer-by-layer technique. Such assembled microcapsules can produce visible light in the region of 520-680 nm, which can activate the photosensitizers rose bengal (RB) and hypocrellin B (HB) after adding ATP. The microcapsules uploading photosensitizers (RB or HB) have an obvious property to prevent the proliferation of tumor cells in the dark. The assembled bioluminescent microcapsules can be potentially used as photon donors for bioimaging, ATP detection, and photodynamic therapy.