Biologically and Acoustically Compatible Chamber for Studying Ultrasound-Mediated Delivery of Therapeutic Compounds.
Ultrasound (US), in combination with microbubbles, has been found to be a potential alternative to viral therapies for transfecting biological cells. The translation of this technique to the clinical environment, however, requires robust and systematic optimization of the acoustic parameters needed to achieve a desired therapeutic effect. Currently, a variety of different devices have been developed to transfect cells in vitro, resulting in a lack of standardized experimental conditions and difficulty in comparing results from different laboratories. To overcome this limitation, we propose an easy-to-fabricate and cost-effective device for application in US-mediated delivery of therapeutic compounds. It comprises a commercially available cell culture dish coupled with a silicon-based "lid" developed in-house that enables the device to be immersed in a water bath for US exposure. Described here are the design of the device, characterization of the sound field and fluid dynamics inside the chamber and an example protocol for a therapeutic delivery experiment.
Department of Engineering Science, Institute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
Dario
D
Carugo
Department of Engineering Science, Institute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
Joshua
J
Owen
Department of Engineering Science, Institute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
Calum
C
Crake
Department of Engineering Science, Institute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
Jeong Yu
JY
Lee
Department of Engineering Science, Institute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom. Electronic address: eleanor.stride@eng.ox.ac.uk.
Eleanor
E
Stride
D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000737:chemistry; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation*; D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D004129:Dimethylpolysiloxanes / Q000737:chemistry*; D004353:Drug Evaluation, Preclinical / Q000295:instrumentation*; D018274:Electroporation / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D019220:High-Energy Shock Waves; D008422:Materials Testing; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011874:Radiometry / Q000295:instrumentation; D013010:Sonication / Q000295:instrumentation*; D014162:Transfection / Q000295:instrumentation*
D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D004129:Dimethylpolysiloxanes; C013830:baysilon
Cell culture device; In vitro assay; Small interfering RNA; Sonoporation; Ultrasound-mediated drug delivery