Lipid‐Coated Uniform Microbubbles for Earlier Sonographic Detection of Brain Tumors

Abstract

Rapid technological improvements have fostered the continued clinical development of intraoperative neurosonology, despite the fact that no suitable contrast media have been available for ultrasound studies. Because they can be made of uniform size (99% are less than 4.5 mum in diameter) and are thought to cross disruptions in the tumor vessels, artificial lipid-coated microbubbles can fill this gap. Furthermore, these microbubbles are stable in vitro for at least 6 months, with an in vivo halflife of 20 hours or more. This study demonstrated that lipid-coated microbubbles injected intravascularly can intensify echoes from rat brain gliomas. Specifically, when this standardized microbubble contrast agent was injected intravenously daily in rats, the time to visual ultrasonic detection of developing brain tumors (C-6 gliomas) was 4.09 days (n = 11) after tumor inoculation, versus 6.67 days (n = 9) to detection without microbubble injection (Z = -3.71, p = 0.0004).

Nanotherapy for Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia: Targeting senile endothelium

“…Beyond the sizable clinical potential of targeted (receptor-mediated) drug delivery for treating common (Alzheimer's-related and/or vascular) dementias using the LCM/ND lipid nanoemulsion type, there exists the additional advantage of employing its characteristic lipid-coated microbubble (LCM) subpopulation (D'Arrigo 2011) for further targeted neurotherapy via sonoporation. This LCM subpopulation was utilized in the past for brain sonographic studies (D'Arrigo et al 1991;D'Arrigo et al 1993;Simon et al 1990;Simon et al 1992), neuro(CNS)-injury studies Kureshi et al 1999;Wakefield et al 1998) and preliminary cavitation-therapy experiments in animals --all of which has been reviewed in detail elsewhere in the literature (D'Arrigo 2011).…”

Nanotherapy for Early Dementia: Targeting Senile Endothelium

“…Beyond the sizable clinical potential of targeted (receptor-mediated) drug delivery for treating common (Alzheimer's-related and/or vascular) dementias using the LCM/ND lipid nanoemulsion type, there exists the additional advantage of employing its characteristic lipidcoated microbubble (LCM) subpopulation (D'Arrigo 2011) for further targeted neurotherapy via sonoporation. This LCM subpopulation was utilized in the past for brain sonographic studies (D'Arrigo et al 1991;D'Arrigo et al 1993;Simon et al 1990;Simon et al 1992), neuro(CNS)-injury studies Kureshi et al 1999;Wakefield et al 1998) and preliminary cavitation-therapy experiments (Simon et al 1993) in animals --all of which has been reviewed in detail elsewhere in the literature (D'Arrigo 2011).…”

Ultrasonographic Contrast Media

“…27 Additional clinical applications include thrombus detection, 28 adult contrast-enhanced echocardiography, 10,29 liver 30,31 and kidney 32 imaging, and tumor identification in several organs such as liver, 33 prostate, 34 breast, 11 and brain. 35 Injection into body cavities or hollow organs, such as the bladder 36 or uterus, 37 allows more precise delineation of the walls, the configuration, or local disease. Another mode of action is by selective uptake in particular tissues such as Kupffer cells of the reticuloendothelial system.…”