Coated microbubbles, conventionally used as ultrasound contrast agents have shown great potential for therapeutic applications. To date however, targeting in vivo has shown limited efficacy.  Magnetic microbubbles have been shown to increase gene transfection under combined exposure to ultrasound and a magnetic field in vitro and in small animal models. The aim of this work was to demonstrate retention of magnetic microbubbles under conditions relevant to human physiology.  An ultrasound imaging phantom was designed and bubble retention tested for a range of flow rates, vessel diameters and magnetic field strengths and gradients. The results indicate that magnetic microbubbles can be retained using clinically feasible magnetic fields at shear rates ~1000/s and flow rates ~200 ml/min (corresponding to the capillary and arterial systems respectively). Preliminary results also indicate that a new formulation of magnetic microbubble generated using a new preparation technique shows higher retention efficiency than existing formulations.

Imaging and retention of magnetic microbubbles at physiologically relevant shear rates

245th National Meeting (2013)

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