Synthesis of Laboratory Ultrasound Contrast Agents

Molecules

Jingam Park⁵  Donghee Park⁵  Unchul Shin⁵  Sanghyub Moon⁵  Chihyun Kim⁵  Han Sung Kim⁵  Hyunjin Park¹  Kiju Choi²  Bong-Kwang Jung³  Jaemin Oh⁴ 

[1] School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 440-746, Korea; E-Mail:;Div. Respiratory Viruses, Center for Infectious Diseases, Korea National Institute of Health, Gangoe-myeon, Cheongwon-gun, Chungbok 363-700, Korea; E-Mail:;Department of Parasitology and Tropical Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea E-Mail:;Department of Chemistry and Medical Chemistry, Yonsei University, Maeji-ri, Heungeop-myeon, Wonju, Gangwon-do 220-710, Korea; E-Mail:;Department of Biomedical Engineering, Yonsei University, Maeji-ri, Heungeop-myeon, Wonju, Gangwon-do 220-710, Korea; E-Mails:

关键词: ultrasound contrast agent;    microbubble;    cavitation;    synthesis of microbubble;    size control;   

DOI  :  10.3390/molecules181013078

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Ultrasound Contrast Agents (UCAs) were developed to maximize reflection contrast so that organs can be seen clearly in ultrasound imaging. UCAs increase the signal to noise ratio (SNR) by linear and non-linear mechanisms and thus help more accurately visualize the internal organs and blood vessels. However, the UCAs on the market are not only expensive, but are also not optimized for use in various therapeutic research applications such as ultrasound-aided drug delivery. The UCAs fabricated in this study utilize conventional lipid and albumin for shell formation and perfluorobutane as the internal gas. The shape and density of the UCA bubbles were verified by optical microscopy and Cryo SEM, and compared to those of the commercially available UCAs, Definity^® and Sonovue^®. The size distribution and characteristics of the reflected signal were also analyzed using a particle size analyzer and ultrasound imaging equipment. Our experiments indicate that UCAs composed of spherical microbubbles, the majority of which were smaller than 1 um, were successfully synthesized. Microbubbles 10 um or larger were also identified when different shell characteristics and filters were used. These laboratory UCAs can be used for research in both diagnoses and therapies.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.