OBJECTIVE To determine whether serum complement C3 mediates adherence of albumin-encapsulated microbubbles to vascular endothelium in the development of atherosclerotic plaques. METHODS Adherence of microbubbles to aortic endothelium was examined with scanning electron microscopy following intravenous injection of 20% intralipid in wild-type mice, genetic complement-deficient mice (C3-/-), an...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs), as a novel class of small noncoding RNAs, have been identified as important transcriptional and posttranscriptional inhibitors of gene expression. Ultrasound-targeted microbubble destruction (UTMD) is a noninvasive method for microRNA delivery. We aimed to investigate the effect of UTMD of miR-133a on breast cancer treatment. It has been reported that miRNA-133a is involved ...

Microbubble technologies have recently gained acceptance as radiological molecular imaging or perfusion agents. These intravenous ultrasound contrast agents consist of gasfilled microspheres stabilized by a ‘shell’ layer which interfaces with a surrounding solvent pool. Development in the form of encapsulation with complex biocompatible polymer shell consisting of proteins, lipids and surfactan...

Background: As one of the most effective triggers with high tissue-penetrating capability and non-invasive feature, ultrasound shows great potential for controlling the drug release and enhancing the chemotherapeutic efficacy. In this study, we report, for the first time, construction of a phase-changeable drug-delivery nanosystem with programmable low-intensity focused ultrasound (LIFU) that c...

Ultrasound microbubble combined optic protection drugs have obvious protective effect on optic nerve damage. This way of targeting drug delivery is becoming more simple, not through the whole body metabolism, avoiding drug via blood circulation when facing the decomposition and the environment in the interference and destruction process of drugs, to maximize the guarantee to reach target organs...

The therapeutic use of ultrasound contrast agents (UCAs) is an emerging methodology with high potential for enhanced directed therapeutic gene, bioactive gas, drug, and stem cell delivery. Ultrasound-targeted microbubble destruction has already demonstrated feasibility for plasmid DNA delivery. Similarly, therapeutic ultrasound for thrombolysis treatment has been taken into the clinical setting...

Encapsulated microbubbles are well established as highly effective contrast agents for ultrasound imaging. There remain, however, some significant challenges to fully realize the potential of microbubbles in advanced applications such as perfusion mapping, targeted drug delivery, and gene therapy. A key requirement is accurate characterization of the viscoelastic surface properties of the micro...

The challenge presented to ultrasound imaging technology by the advent of microbubble contrast agents is to create a method that detects the echoes from bubbles in preference to the echoes from tissue. Recent progress in ultrasonography is represented by the development of harmonic and pulse inversion imaging (Fig. 1, 2). Pulse inversion imaging is a newly developed one, which uses the full ban...

For purposes of this short communication, sonographic (ultrasound) techniques that utilize microbubbles (MB) is referred to as microbubble sonography (MBS). MBS has important diagnostic and therapeutic (thus the term "theranostic") clinical applications in targeted or “personalized” oncology. For diagnosis, MBS provides detailed depiction of tumor microvascularity and a means to monitor its res...

Ultrasound induced microbubble cavitation can cause enhanced permeability across natural barriers of tumors such as vessel walls or cellular membranes, allowing for enhanced therapeutic delivery into the target tissues. While enhanced delivery of small (<1nm) molecules has been shown at acoustic pressures below 1MPa both in vitro and in vivo, the delivery efficiency of larger (>100nm) therapeut...