Ultrasound Imaging (US) is the most widely used imaging technique, however it suffers from limitations in resolution and sensitivity. These short comings highlight the need for more efficient US contrast agents. Perfluorocarbons (PFCs) have been shown to be potentially effective US contrast agents, especially PFCs with low boiling points (bp) as they are more suitable for use in-vivo due to their facile liquid-to-gas phase transition. However, their instability at physiological temperature has limited their application. Research has focused on finding efficient ways to stabilize PFC’s and to develop responsive-triggered phase transitions. In our work, co-polymers synthesized via ring opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) were used to encapsulate low-bp PFCs, including perfluoropentane (bp = 29 oC) and perfluorobutane (bp = -1.7 oC), then prepared as nanoemulsions by the emulsion and evaporation method. The polymeric shell was crosslinked by a UV-induced thiol-ene click reaction in order to stabilize the microbubbles at physiological temperature. Clinically-used acoustic waves were used to specifically trigger the phase transition of the low-bp PFCs, resulting in an increase for US contrast. This ROMP-based polymeric strategy provides a simple and flexible way for tuning the materials properties to account for different PFCs.

Crosslinked, polymer-stabilized, low-boiling-point perfluorocarbons for clinical, acoustic-triggered ultrasound imaging

251st National Meeting (2016)

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