International Journal of Nanomedicine (May 2024)
Construction of a Tumor-Targeting Nanobubble with Multiple Scattering Interfaces and its Enhancement of Ultrasound Imaging
Abstract
Zhengjun Ma,1 Yanmei Zhang,1 Yupu Zhu,2 Minxuan Cui,2 Yutao Liu,2 Yun-You Duan,1 Li Fan,2 Li Zhang1 1Department of Ultrasound Medicine, Tangdu Hospital, Air Force Medical University, Xi’an, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Analysis, School of Pharmacy, Air Force Medical University, Xi’an, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Li Fan; Li Zhang, Email [email protected]; [email protected]: Recently, nanobubbles (NBs) have gained significant traction in the field of tumor diagnosis and treatment owing to their distinctive advantages. However, the application of NBs is limited due to their restricted size and singular reflection section, resulting in low ultrasonic reflection.Methods: We synthesized a nano-scale ultrasound contrast agent (IR783-SiO2NPs@NB) by encapsulating SiO2 nanoparticles in an IR783-labeled lipid shell using an improved film hydration method. We characterized its physicochemical properties, examined its microscopic morphology, evaluated its stability and cytotoxicity, and assessed its contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging capability both in vitro and in vivo.Results: The results show that IR783-SiO2NPs@NB had a “donut-type” composite microstructure, exhibited uniform particle size distribution (637.2 ± 86.4 nm), demonstrated excellent stability (30 min), high biocompatibility, remarkable tumor specific binding efficiency (99.78%), and an exceptional contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging capability.Conclusion: Our newly developed multiple scattering NBs with tumor targeting capacity have excellent contrast-enhanced imaging capability, and they show relatively long contrast enhancement duration in solid tumors, thus providing a new approach to the structural design of NBs.Keywords: ultrasound contrast agents, nanobubbles, CEUS, scattering cross-section, SiO2 NPs
