Open AccessNanodroplet-Vaporization-Assisted Sonoporation for Highly Effective Delivery of Photothermal Treatment
Author(s) -
Weiwen Liu,
Shuwei Liu,
Yu-Ren Liou,
Yu-Hsun Wu,
Ya-Chuen Yang,
ChurngRen Chris Wang,
PaiChi Li
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
scientific reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.24
H-Index - 213
ISSN - 2045-2322
DOI - 10.1038/srep24753
Subject(s) - sonoporation , microbubbles , photothermal therapy , vaporization , cavitation , in vivo , materials science , ultrasound , nanotechnology , biomedical engineering , photothermal effect , chemistry , biophysics , medicine , acoustics , radiology , physics , microbiology and biotechnology , organic chemistry , biology
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 °C above that achieved by microbubble-based sonoporation.