Nanodroplet-Vaporization-Assisted Sonoporation for Highly Effective Delivery of Photothermal Treatment

作者：Liu Wei Wen; Liu Shu Wei; Liou Yu Ren; Wu Yu Hsun; Yang Ya Chuen; Wang Churng Ren Chris; Li Pai Chi

来源：Scientific Reports, 2016, 6(1): 24753.

DOI：10.1038/srep24753

Sonoporation refers to the use of ultrasound and acoustic cavitation to temporarily enhance the permeability of cellular membranes so as to enhance the delivery efficiency of therapeutic agents into cells. Microbubble-based ultrasound contrast agents are often used to facilitate these cavitation effects. This study used nanodroplets to significantly enhance the effectiveness of sonoporation relative to using conventional microbubbles. Significant enhancements were demonstrated both in vitro and in vivo by using gold nanorods encapsulated in nanodroplets for implementing plasmonic photothermal therapy. Combined excitation by ultrasound and laser radiation is used to trigger the gold nanodroplets to induce a liquid-to-gas phase change, which induces cavitation effects that are three-to-fivefold stronger than when using conventional microbubbles. Enhanced cavitation also leads to significant enhancement of the sonoporation effects. Our in vivo results show that nanodroplet-vaporization-assisted sonoporation can increase the treatment temperature by more than 10 degrees C above that achieved by microbubble-based sonoporation.

• 出版日期2016-4-20