Interaction of ultrasonically-stimulated microbubbles with biological membranes

理想情况下，治疗药物将完全输送到患病组织，而健康组织则不会受到影响。 我们小组特别感兴趣的是将兆赫频率的声能与微泡（比红细胞小的微小气泡）结合应用，以选择性地改善药物向癌细胞的输送。 微泡是微米大小的，由脂质或聚合物壳稳定的充气结构。 当暴露于治疗超声时，微泡可以经历大的振荡和破坏，这可以增加药物分子进入微泡附近的生物细胞的摄取。 我们的团队将使用显微镜系统检查超声波与微泡的相互作用及其对活细胞的影响，该系统可以以每秒200万帧的速度获得振荡微泡的图像，以每秒1000帧的速度获得细胞的荧光图像，同时聆听微泡发出的声音。 对超声刺激的微泡与生物膜在真实的时间内相互作用的基础研究将提高我们对潜在机制的理解，并指导超声增强癌症治疗的优化。

Ideally, therapeutic drugs would be delivered entirely to the diseased tissue, sparring healthy tissues. Of particular interest to our group is the application of sound energy at megahertz frequencies in combination with microbubbles, tiny bubbles smaller than red blood cells, to selectively improve delivery of drugs to cancer cells. Microbubbles are micrometer size, gas-filled structures stabilized by a lipid or polymer shell. When exposed to therapeutic ultrasound, microbubbles can undergo large oscillations and disruption that can increase uptake of drug-molecules into biological cells, which were within the microbubble's vicinity. Our group will examine the interaction of ultrasound with microbubbles and its effect on live cells using a microscopy system that can acquire images of oscillating microbubbles at 2 million frames per second, fluorescent images of cells at one thousand frames per second while simultaneously listening to the sound emitted by microbubbles. Fundamental studies of the interaction of ultrasonically-stimulated microbubbles with biological membranes in real time will improve our understanding of underlying mechanisms and guide the optimization of ultrasound-potentiated cancer therapies.