Journal article
Acoustic Characterization of Echogenic Polymersomes Prepared From Amphiphilic Block Copolymers
Ultrasound in medicine & biology, Vol.44(2), pp.447-457
02/2018
DOI: 10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2017.10.011
PMID: 29229268
Abstract
Polymersomes are a class of artificial vesicles prepared from amphiphilic polymers. Like lipid vesicles (liposomes), they too can encapsulate hydrophilic and hydrophobic drug molecules in the aqueous core and the hydrophobic bilayer respectively, but are more stable than liposomes. Although echogenic liposomes have been widely investigated for simultaneous ultrasound imaging and controlled drug delivery, the potential of the polymersomes remains unexplored. We prepared two different echogenic polymersomes from the amphiphilic copolymers polyethylene glycol–poly-DL-lactic acid (PEG-PLA) and polyethylene glycol–poly-L-lactic acid (PEG-PLLA), incorporating multiple freeze-dry cycles in the synthesis protocol to ensure their echogenicity. We investigated acoustic behavior with potential applications in biomedical imaging. We characterized the polymeric vesicles acoustically with three different excitation frequencies of 2.25, 5 and 10 MHz at 500 kPa. The polymersomes exhibited strong echogenicity at all three excitation frequencies (about 50- and 25-dB enhancements in fundamental and subharmonic, respectively, at 5-MHz excitation from 20 µg/mL polymers in solution). Unlike echogenic liposomes, they emitted strong subharmonic responses. The scattering results indicated their potential as contrast agents, which was also confirmed by clinical ultrasound imaging.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Acoustic Characterization of Echogenic Polymersomes Prepared From Amphiphilic Block Copolymers
- Creators
- Lang Xia - George Washington UniversityFataneh Karandish - North Dakota State UniversityKrishna Nandan Kumar - George Washington UniversityJames Froberg - North Dakota State UniversityPrajakta Kulkarni - North Dakota State UniversityKara N. Gange - North Dakota State UniversityYongki Choi - North Dakota State UniversitySanku Mallik - North Dakota State UniversityKausik Sarkar - George Washington University
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Ultrasound in medicine & biology, Vol.44(2), pp.447-457
- Publisher
- Elsevier Inc
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2017.10.011
- PMID
- 29229268
- ISSN
- 0301-5629
- eISSN
- 1879-291X
- Grant note
- DOI: 10.13039/100000002, name: National Institutes of Health, award: R01 GM114080; DOI: 10.13039/100000146, name: National Science Foundation Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems, award: 1603639
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 02/2018
- Academic Unit
- Orthopedics and Rehabilitation
- Record Identifier
- 9984304706602771
Metrics
15 Record Views