Abstract

Aim of this work was to study the dissolution behaviour of the phospholipid-shelled perfluorobutanemicrobubbles of an experimental contrast agent for echographic imaging through an innovative methodologybased on time-scheduled size distribution measurements. Two different contrast handling procedures wereemployed and temporal evolution of corresponding microbubble populations was monitored for several hours.Dissolution behaviour of shelled microbubbles resulted to be qualitatively analogous to that theoreticallypredicted for unshelled perfluorobutane bubbles, with a much longer lifetime due to the shell effect. In particular,mean microbubble diameter, initially around 2 ?m, first increased to more than 2.6 ?m and then graduallyreduced to less than 1.7 ?m, with corresponding variations of the effectively employable ultrasound frequenciesfor imaging purposes. We also demonstrated that excess lipid material is diffused as submicron particleshedding. Finally, we discussed the implications of these results for diagnostic and therapeutic applicationsinvolving the studied microbubbles.

Autore Pugliese

• Conversano Francesco , Franchini Roberto , Casciaro Sergio

Tutti gli autori

• Conversano F.; Franchini R.; Casciaro S.

Titolo volume/Rivista

Non Disponibile

Anno di pubblicazione

2010

ISSN

Non Disponibile

ISBN

978-0-473-16942-8

Numero di citazioni Wos

Nessuna citazione

Ultimo Aggiornamento Citazioni

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Numero di citazioni Scopus

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Settori ERC

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Codici ASJC

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