The impact of collapsing microbubbles on cells

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Project objective

The aim of the suggested project is to fill the gap between the nicely understood spherical bubble dynamics and the dynamics of bubbles close to in homogeneities, which is far more relevant for medical applications. This research will help to better understand the fundamental mechanics of the interactions between collapsing bubbles and soft materials such as cell walls. We will focus on a new medical application of micro bubbles, namely, their use in therapy, where the bubbles can act as vectors for directed drug delivery and gene transfection into living cells. It has been shown that the permeability of cell walls for large molecules (both drugs and genes) is dramatically increased in the presence of ultrasound micro bubbles. The nature of the mechanism behind this phenomenon is not understood today. One of the candidates for enhancing cell wall permeation are water jets, induced by collapsing bubbles: Electron micrographs of insonated blood cells show conspicuous holes in their walls. If they indeed originate from jet cavitation, this process can be controlled with great accuracy, as ultrasound can be focused onto specific areas and depths in the body: Localized therapy both trough drug delivery and gene transfection becomes possible. To clarify the role of the bubble cavitation in this process and to allow for an optimization, direct observation with an unique ultra-high speed digital camera (128 pictures at 20 million frames per second) is planned.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

• UNIVERSITY OF TWENTE · ENSCHEDECoordinatorNetherlands

Links

• View on CORDIS