title: Highly Uniform Perfluoropropane-Loaded Cerasomal Microbubbles As a Novel Ultrasound Contrast Agent.
abstract: Microbubbles are widely used as ultrasound contrast agents owing to their excellent echoing characteristics under ultrasound radiation. However, their short sonographic duration and wide size distribution still hinder their application. Herein, we present a hard-template approach to produce perfluoropropane-loaded cerasomal microbubbles (PLCMs) with uniform size and long sonographic duration. The preparation of PLCMs includes deposition of Si-lipids onto functionalized CaCO3 microspheres, removal of their CaCO3 cores and mild infusion of perfluoropropane. In vitro and in vivo experiments showed that PLCMs had excellent echoing characteristics under different ultrasound conditions. More importantly, PLCMs could be imaged for much longer than SonoVue (commercially used microbubbles) under the same ultrasound parameters and concentrations. Our results demonstrated that PLCMs have great potential for use as a novel contrast agent in ultrasound imaging.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University , Guangzhou, Guangdong 510006, China.
authors.forename: Chunyang
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Ultrasonics, Institute of Diagnostic and Interventional Ultrasound, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University , Guangzhou, Guangdong 510080, China.
authors.forename: Zhu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University , Guangzhou, Guangdong 510006, China.
authors.forename: Chunan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University , Guangzhou, Guangdong 510006, China.
authors.forename: Xiongjun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University , Guangzhou, Guangdong 510006, China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Ultrasonics, Institute of Diagnostic and Interventional Ultrasound, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University , Guangzhou, Guangdong 510080, China.
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University , Guangzhou, Guangdong 510006, China.
authors.forename: Shuyu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Ultrasonics, Institute of Diagnostic and Interventional Ultrasound, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University , Guangzhou, Guangdong 510080, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoyan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University , Guangzhou, Guangdong 510006, China.
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Ultrasonics, Institute of Diagnostic and Interventional Ultrasound, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University , Guangzhou, Guangdong 510080, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University , Guangzhou, Guangdong 510006, China.
authors.forename: Zhong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Cao
mesh_terms: D003287:Contrast Media; D005466:Fluorocarbons; D045423:Microbubbles; D014463:Ultrasonography
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; D005466:Fluorocarbons; C042852:perflutren
keywords: Si-lipid; hard-template; microbubbles; stability; ultrasound contrast agent; uniform size distribution