The motivation of this study lies in the necessity for a microfocal therapy to specifically target diseased areas in vascular pathologies such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD). AMD is the most common cause of legal blindness among people over the age of 60 in developed countries. This degenerative condition affects the macula, the central region of the retina, severely impairing detailed vision and hindering everyday activities. Worldwide, 25-30 million people live with some form of AMD. Among them, ~10% suffer from the more advanced and damaging form, wet-AMD, which causes rapid and severe loss of central vision. To date, there is no cure or long-term alternative for this degenerative disease despite intensive research efforts. With recent developments in biophysical tools and experimental procedures, in this study, we demonstrate a highly-localized therapeutic option: two-photon (2-photon) photodynamic therapy (PDT) that could be advantageous for the cure of wet-AMD, either alone or in combination with recently discovered anti-angiogenic therapies. This new approach offers selective targeting of the diseased area, thus minimizing damage to the surrounding sensitive healthy eye tissues, which is a major concern with the clinically-used, standard wide-beam, one-photon (1-photon) PDT. The objective of the research was to test the feasibility of microfocal 1-photon and the inherently localized 2-photon PDT, their optimization and also to evaluate the efficacy of existing 1-photon and novel 2-photon photosensitizers. In this thesis, I illustrated the in vitro (endothelial cell monolayer) and in vivo (window chamber mouse (WCM)) models that can be used to quantitatively compare the 2-photon efficiency of photosensitizers. Using the in vitro model, I compared the 2-photon efficacy of clinically used 1-photon PDT drugs Photofrin and Visudyne, and showed that the Visudyne is an order of magnitude better 2-photon photosensitizer than Photofrin. With the WCM model, I demonstrated a novel designer 2-photon photosensitizer is 20 times more efficient than Visudyne for single vessel occlusion. I also generated the drug and light dose reciprocity curve for localized single-vessel microfocal PDT. This is a necessary step towards applying the method to the relevant ocular models of AMD, which is the next phase for this research.

The motivation of this study lies in the necessity for a microfocal therapy to specifically target diseased areas in vascular pathologies such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD). AMD is the most common cause of legal blindness among people over the age of 60 in developed countries. This degenerative condition affects the macula, the central region of the retina, severely impairing detailed vision and hindering everyday activities. Worldwide, 25-30 million people live with some form of AMD. Among them, ~10% suffer from the more advanced and damaging form, wet-AMD, which causes rapid and severe loss of central vision. To date, there is no cure or long-term alternative for this degenerative disease despite intensive research efforts. With recent developments in biophysical tools and experimental procedures, in this study, we demonstrate a highly-localized therapeutic option: two-photon (2-photon) photodynamic therapy (PDT) that could be advantageous for the cure of wet-AMD, either alone or in combination with recently discovered anti-angiogenic therapies. This new approach offers selective targeting of the diseased area, thus minimizing damage to the surrounding sensitive healthy eye tissues, which is a major concern with the clinically-used, standard wide-beam, one-photon (1-photon) PDT. The objective of the research was to test the feasibility of microfocal 1-photon and the inherently localized 2-photon PDT, their optimization and also to evaluate the efficacy of existing 1-photon and novel 2-photon photosensitizers. In this thesis, I illustrated the in vitro (endothelial cell monolayer) and in vivo (window chamber mouse (WCM)) models that can be used to quantitatively compare the 2-photon efficiency of photosensitizers. Using the in vitro model, I compared the 2-photon efficacy of clinically used 1-photon PDT drugs Photofrin and Visudyne, and showed that the Visudyne is an order of magnitude better 2-photon photosensitizer than Photofrin. With the WCM model, I demonstrated a novel designer 2-photon photosensitizer is 20 times more efficient than Visudyne for single vessel occlusion. I also generated the drug and light dose reciprocity curve for localized single-vessel microfocal PDT. This is a necessary step towards applying the method to the relevant ocular models of AMD, which is the next phase for this research.