BACKGROUND MDR1 gene encoding P-glycoprotein is an ATP-dependent drug efflux transporter and related to drug resistance of yolk sac carcinoma. Ultrasound microbubble-mediated delivery has been used as a novel and effective gene delivery method. We hypothesize that small interfering RNA (siRNA) targeting MDR1 gene (siMDR1) delivery with microbubble and ultrasound can down-regulate MDR1 expressio...

Gene therapy provides an efficient approach for treatment of cardiovascular disease. To realize the therapeutic effect, both efficient delivery to the target cells and sustained expression of transgenes are required. Ultrasound targeted microbubble destruction (UTMD) technique has become a potential strategy for target-specific gene and drug delivery. When gene-loaded microbubble is injected, t...

The combination of microbubbles and ultrasound has emerged as a promising method for local drug delivery. Microbubbles can be locally activated by a targeted ultrasound beam, which can result in several bio-effects. For drug delivery, microbubble-assisted ultrasound is used to increase vascular- and plasma membrane permeability for facilitating drug extravasation and the cellular uptake of drug...

The importance of the excitation bandwidth is well known in diagnostic ultrasound imaging. However, the effect of excitation bandwidth in therapeutic applications of microbubbles has been mostly overlooked. A majority of contrast agent production techniques generate polydisperse microbubble populations, so a wide range of resonance frequencies exist. Therefore, wideband excitation is necessary ...

High intensity pulsed ultrasound, interacting with microbubble contrast agents, is potentially useful for drug delivery, cancer treatment, and tissue ablation, among other applications. To establish the fundamental understanding on the interaction of a microbubble (in an infinite volume of water) with an ultrasound pressure field, a numerical study is performed using the boundary element method...

Low efficiency of conventional aeration techniques and the excessive production and disposal of sludge are great concerns in biological wastewater treatment systems. The present study aimed to evaluate the active sludge method using batch reactors under continuous operation to determine the efficiency of aeration and sludge production through microbubble and nanobubble aeration. The results ind...

Microbubble ultrasound contrast agents have been in clinical use for more than two decades, during which time their range of applications has increased to encompass echocardiography, Doppler enhancement, perfusion studies and molecular imaging, as well as a number of therapeutic applications including drug delivery, gene therapy, high-intensity focused ultrasound treatments and sonothrombolysis...

The application of microbubbles for both diagnostic macroand molecular imaging and therapeudic ultrasound requires an understanding of the coupled interactions involving microbubble dynamics with the surrounding compliant microvessel. In this study, ultra-high speed microphotography was used to directly observe transient behaviors of microbubbles in microvessels of ex vivo rat mesenteries. Defi...

In a pure liquid, the behaviour of a gas or vapour microbubble is determined primarily by its size, the ambient pressure and the properties of the surrounding liquid. In practice, however, adsorption of a dissolved substance from the surrounding liquid onto the microbubble surface will often take place, producing a thin coating which can significantly affect both the microbubble's stability and...

A new fiber pressure sensor is proposed and analyzed in this paper. A commercial arc fusion splicer and pressure-assisted arc discharge technology are used here to fabricate a silica hollow microbubble from a common glass tube with the characteristics of a thin film. Then the single mode fiber is embedded into the microbubble to form a fiber Fabry-Perot interferometer by measuring the reflected...