Table 1.

Summary of the nanoparticle-based targeting approaches in aPDT discussed in this review

Targeting agent	Ref	Target species	In vitro or in vivo PDT treatmenta	Nanoparticle		Photosensitiser	Targeting structure	Irradiation conditions
				Material	Size/nm			Light source	Time/min		Irradiance/mW/cm2
Charge	[85]	E. coli, S. aureus	In vitro	Polymer	78–90	Chlorin e6	Charge (pH responsive)	660 nm laser		10	100
	[86]	E. coli, N. gonorrhoeae	In vitro	Zeolite L-based	50	SiIV-phthalocyanine dihydroxide and N,N’-bis(2,6-dimethylphenyl) perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarbodiimide	Amino ligand	570–900 nm tungsten lamp		150	3
	[88]	MRSA, P. aeruginosa	In vitro, planktonic	Liposomes	136.6 ± 1.6	Temoporfin	Antimicrobial peptide (WLBU2)	652 nm laser		1.7 (100 s)	1000
	[89]	S. aureus	In vivo, mouse thighs	Manganese oxide (coated with BSA)	50 ± 10	Indocyanine green	Antimicrobial peptide ubiquicidin29-41 and antibiotic gentamicin	808 nm laser		15	100
Antibiotic	[90]	MRSA, methicillin-sensitive S. aureus	In vitro, planktonic; in vivo, rats	Gold	79 ± 43	Plasmon gold nanoparticle	Amoxicillin	White light LED		30	0.6b
	[92]	P. aeruginosa, S. aureus	In vitro, biofilm	Gold	79 ± 43	Plasmon gold nanoparticle	Amoxicillin	White light LED		60–180	Red = 5.5, Red = 9.9, Blue = 2.2, White = 0.3
	[94]	Vancomycin-resistant E. faecium and E. faecalis	In vitro, planktonic; in vivo, mouse wounds	Gold, silver, silica	110	2,3-naphthalocyanine	Vancomycin	780 nm laser		30	30
	[95]	Vancomycin-resistant E. faecium and E. faecalis	In vitro, planktonic; in vivo, mouse wounds	Copper sulfide	15 ± 5	Copper sulfide nanoparticle	Vancomycin	980 nm laser		10	0.8
	[96]	Clinical isolates of MRSA, vancomycin-resistant E. faecalis, E. faecalis, S. aureus, B. cereus, methicillin-sensitive S. aureus, E. coli O157:H7:K, S. typhimurium	In vitro, planktonic	Iron oxide	400 ± 19	t-PtCP ([5,15-bisphenyl-10,20-bis(4-methoxycarbonylphenyl)-porphyrin] platinum)	Vancomycin	510 nm laser		0–60	6.1
	[97]	E. coli, methicillin-sensitive S. aureus, MRSA	In vitro, planktonic and biofilm; in vivo, rabbit endophthalmitis	Zeolitic imidazolate framework-8-polyacrylic acid	150	Methylene blue	Vancomycin	630 nm laser		5	202
Glycans	[102]	P. aeruginosa and S. aureus	In vitro, planktonic	Silver nanoparticles	162.6 ± 3.6	BODIPY	Galactose	400–800 nm laser		15	1.5
	[103]	Drug-resistant P. aeruginosa	In vitro, planktonic and biofilm; in vivo, mouse lung model for pneumonia	Gadofullerene-based	171—187	Indocyanine green	Galactose and/or fucose	808 nm laser		5	2000
	[105]	P. aeruginosa and S. aureus	In vitro, planktonic	BODIPY core and 2-(dimethylamino)ethyl	16–18c	BODIPY	Galactose	400–800 nm LED		5	25
	[106]	B. subtilis and E. coli	In vitro, planktonic	Poly-5,15-diphenyl(2,5’-dithienylen)-10,20-di(3,5-di-O-TEG-phenyl)	50–80	Porphyrin	Acetylated glucose	White light LED		10	22
	[107]	S. aureus	In vitro, planktonic	Hyperbranched polyglycerol	19.5c	5,10,15-tris(3-hydroxyphen- yl)-20-[4-(prop-2-yn-1-ylamino)tetrafluorophenyl]porphyrinato}-zinc(II)	Mannose	652 nm laser		85d	100e
	[108]	E. coli, P. aeruginosa	In vitro, planktonic	Mesoporous silica	180–200	Methylene blue	Mannose	652 nm LED		30	16, 32e
	[111]	P. aeruginosa	In vivo, rabbit keratitis and mouse meningitis models	Acrylamide-based polymeric	38	Methylene blue	Imprinted structure of P. aeruginosa lipopolysaccharide	650 nm laser		20	125
Antibody	[113]	MRSA	In vitro, planktonic; in vivo, mouse wounds	Iron oxide	103 ± 7	Hematoporphyrin	Anti-MRSA antibody	517 nm LED		60	3.9 (in vitro), 11.8 (in vivo)
	[114]	MRSA and methicillin-sensitive S. aureus	In vitro, planktonic	Gold (coated with BSA)	1.8 ± 0.4f	Photosens™	Anti-Staphylococcus aureus antibody	660 nm LED		0–60	25
	[115]	Multi-drug resistant Salmonella (DT104)	In vitro, planktonic in rabbit blood	Iron core, gold shell	70	Methylene blue	Anti-Salmonella DT104 antibody	670 nm laser		12	1000–2000

^aOther studies may have been reported in the study but only the culture form for aPDT application is detailed in the table

^bEnergy reported in power (W)

^cNanoparticle size reported in molecular weight (kDa)

^dTime reported in seconds (s)

^eEnergy reported in fluence (J/cm²)

^fMeasurement of gold core with TEM