Investigating the Acoustic Response and Contrast Enhancement of Drug-Loadable PLGA Microparticles with Various Shapes and Morphologies

Polymer nanoparticles and microparticles have been used primarily for drug delivery. There is now growing interest in further developing polymer-based solid cavitation agents to also enhance ultrasound imaging. We previously reported on a facile method produce hollow poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) with different diameters degrees of porosity. Here, we investigate the response from these PLGA both therapeutic diagnostic transducers. Interestingly, all formulations exhibited stable cavitation; larger porous multicavity particles provided inertial at elevated acoustic pressure amplitudes. These achieved contrast enhancement comparable that commercially available agents, maximum recorded contrast-to-tissue ratio 28 dB. Therefore, found respond may be applied as theranostic agent.