scholarly journals Honey, I shrunk the bubbles: microfluidic vacuum shrinkage of lipid-stabilized microbubbles

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vaskar Gnyawali ◽  
Byeong-Ui Moon ◽  
Jennifer Kieda ◽  
Raffi Karshafian ◽  
Michael C. Kolios ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Contrast Agents ◽  
Ultrasound Imaging ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Ultrasound Contrast Agents ◽  
Simple Approach ◽  
Vacuum Pressure ◽  
Flow Channels ◽  
Ultrasound Contrast ◽  
Microfluidic Flow ◽  
Microfluidic Technique

We present a microfluidic technique that shrinks lipidstabilized microbubbles from O(100) to O(1) µm in diameter–the size that is desirable in applications as ultrasound contrast agents. We achieve microbubble shrinkage by utilizing vacuum channels that are adjacent to the microfluidic flow channels to extract air from the microbubbles. We tune a single parameter, the vacuum pressure, to accurately control the final microbubble size. Finally, we demonstrate that the resulting O(1) µm diameter microbubbles have similar stability to microfluidics generated microbubbles that are not exposed to vacuum shrinkage. We anticipate that, with additional scale-up, this simple approach to shrink microbubbles generated microfluidically will be desirable in ultrasound imaging and therapeutics applications.

scholarly journals Honey, I shrunk the bubbles: microfluidic vacuum shrinkage of lipid-stabilized microbubbles

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vaskar Gnyawali ◽  
Byeong-Ui Moon ◽  
Jennifer Kieda ◽  
Raffi Karshafian ◽  
Michael C. Kolios ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Contrast Agents ◽  
Ultrasound Imaging ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Ultrasound Contrast Agents ◽  
Simple Approach ◽  
Vacuum Pressure ◽  
Flow Channels ◽  
Ultrasound Contrast ◽  
Microfluidic Flow ◽  
Microfluidic Technique

We present a microfluidic technique that shrinks lipidstabilized microbubbles from O(100) to O(1) µm in diameter–the size that is desirable in applications as ultrasound contrast agents. We achieve microbubble shrinkage by utilizing vacuum channels that are adjacent to the microfluidic flow channels to extract air from the microbubbles. We tune a single parameter, the vacuum pressure, to accurately control the final microbubble size. Finally, we demonstrate that the resulting O(1) µm diameter microbubbles have similar stability to microfluidics generated microbubbles that are not exposed to vacuum shrinkage. We anticipate that, with additional scale-up, this simple approach to shrink microbubbles generated microfluidically will be desirable in ultrasound imaging and therapeutics applications.

scholarly journals Window-Modulated Compounding Nakagami Parameter Ratio Approach for Assessing Muscle Perfusion with Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound Imaging

Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (12) ◽  
pp. 3584
Author(s):  
Huang-Chen Lin ◽  
Shyh-Hau Wang
Keyword(s):  
Contrast Agents ◽  
Ultrasound Imaging ◽  
Ultrasound Contrast Agents ◽  
Muscle Disease ◽  
Contrast Enhanced Ultrasound ◽  
Time Intensity Curve ◽  
Muscle Perfusion ◽  
Ultrasound Contrast ◽  
Parameter Ratio ◽  
Contrast Enhanced

The assessment of microvascular perfusion is essential for the diagnosis of a specific muscle disease. In comparison with the current available medical modalities, the contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging is the simplest and fastest means for probing the tissue perfusion. Specifically, the perfusion parameters estimated from the ultrasound time-intensity curve (TIC) and statistics-based time–Nakagami parameter curve (TNC) approaches were found able to quantify the perfusion. However, due to insufficient tolerance on tissue clutters and subresolvable effects, these approaches remain short of reproducibility and robustness. Consequently, the window-modulated compounding (WMC) Nakagami parameter ratio imaging was proposed to alleviate these effects, by taking the ratio of WMC Nakagami parameters corresponding to the incidence of two different acoustic pressures from an employed transducer. The time–Nakagami parameter ratio curve (TNRC) approach was also developed to estimate perfusion parameters. Measurements for the assessment of muscle perfusion were performed from the flow phantom and animal subjects administrated with a bolus of ultrasound contrast agents. The TNRC approach demonstrated better sensitivity and tolerance of tissue clutters than those of TIC and TNC. The fusion image with the WMC Nakagami parameter ratio and B-mode images indicated that both the tissue structures and perfusion properties of ultrasound contrast agents may be better discerned.

scholarly journals From Micro- to Nano-Multifunctional Theranostic Platform: Effective Ultrasound Imaging Is Not Just a Matter of Scale

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 153601211877821 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Zullino ◽  
Monica Argenziano ◽  
Ilaria Stura ◽  
Caterina Guiot ◽  
Roberta Cavalli
Keyword(s):  
Diagnostic Imaging ◽  
Phase Change ◽  
Contrast Agents ◽  
Ultrasound Imaging ◽  
Tumor Tissue ◽  
Ultrasound Contrast Agents ◽  
Acoustic Droplet Vaporization ◽  
Droplet Vaporization ◽  
Enhanced Permeability And Retention ◽  
Ultrasound Contrast

Ultrasound Contrast Agents (UCAs) consisting of gas-filled-coated Microbubbles (MBs) with diameters between 1 and 10 µm have been used for a number of decades in diagnostic imaging. In recent years, submicron contrast agents have proven to be a viable alternative to MBs for ultrasound (US)-based applications for their capability to extravasate and accumulate in the tumor tissue via the enhanced permeability and retention effect. After a short overview of the more recent approaches to ultrasound-mediated imaging and therapeutics at the nanoscale, phase-change contrast agents (PCCAs), which can be phase-transitioned into highly echogenic MBs by means of US, are here presented. The phenomenon of acoustic droplet vaporization (ADV) to produce bubbles is widely investigated for both imaging and therapeutic applications to develop promising theranostic platforms.

Nanobubble–Affibody: Novel ultrasound contrast agents for targeted molecular ultrasound imaging of tumor

Biomaterials ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 37 ◽  
pp. 279-288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hengli Yang ◽  
Wenbin Cai ◽  
Lei Xu ◽  
Xiuhua Lv ◽  
Youbei Qiao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Contrast Agents ◽  
Ultrasound Imaging ◽  
Ultrasound Contrast Agents ◽  
Ultrasound Contrast ◽  
Molecular Ultrasound

scholarly journals Echogenic exosomes as ultrasound contrast agents

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (8) ◽  
pp. 3411-3422 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenna Osborn ◽  
Jessica E. Pullan ◽  
James Froberg ◽  
Jacob Shreffler ◽  
Kara N. Gange ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drug Delivery ◽  
Contrast Agents ◽  
Ultrasound Imaging ◽  
Ultrasound Contrast Agents ◽  
Ultrasound Contrast ◽  
Potential Use

Exosomes, naturally secreted extracellular bilayer vesicles (diameter 40–130 nm), have been rendered echogenic (responsive to ultrasound) allowing their potential use as a dual agent for drug delivery and ultrasound imaging.

Production of Paclitaxel Loaded PLA-Lecithin Ultrasound Contrast Agents

2013 ◽  
Vol 749 ◽  
pp. 318-321
Author(s):  
Xiang Rui Yang ◽  
Shi Chao Wu ◽  
Zheng Qing Hou ◽  
Yan Ge Wang ◽  
Qian Jiang
Keyword(s):  
Contrast Agents ◽  
Ultrasound Imaging ◽  
Encapsulation Efficiency ◽  
Drug Loading ◽  
Double Emulsion ◽  
Drug Carriers ◽  
Ultrasound Contrast Agents ◽  
Ultrasound Contrast ◽  
Ultrasonic Time ◽  
New Type

Drug loaded PLA (or PLGA) mirobubbles that combine properties of ultrasound imaging contrast agents and drug carriers suffer from low encapsulation efficiency and difficulty to destruction with diagnosis ultrasound. In this paper, a new type of multifunctional paclitaxel-loaded poly lactide-lecithin (PLA-lecithin) microbubbles has been developed with a method of ultrasonic double emulsion solvent evaporation (UDES) combined with lyophilization, and single-factor of ultrasonic time was studied to influence bubble size and drug loading efficiency. Bubbles were characterized to be well dispersed, with size of 300nm~2um, and showed increased ultrasound imaging on rabbit liver and heart after intravenous injection.

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