Ultrasound-activated microbubbles for tendon gene transfer: in vivo efficiency and confocal microscopy real time intracellular investigations

Anthony Delalande (1) , Ayache Bouakaz (2) , Patrick Midoux (1) , Michiel Postema (3) , Chantal Pichon (1)

1 CBM - Centre de biophysique moléculaire
2 iBraiN - Imaging, Brain & Neuropsychiatry
3 RUB - Ruhr University Bochum = Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Ultrasound that is routinely used for imaging is now ex- ploited for therapeutic applications including drug delivery or gene transfer. Today, ultrasound imaging is an established and confident technique for diagnosis. It is mainly based on the development of contrast imaging methods that aim to identify and display the echo from contrast agent as well as rejecting the echo from surrounding tissue offering thus a more resolutive detection. Ultrasound contrast agents or mi- crobubbles (MB) are small gas bubbles encapsulated by a stabilizing shell, with a typical diameter of micron range. Ultrasound pulses are typically applied with a frequency near the resonance frequency of the gas bubble and the bubbles oscillations produce strong echoes from regions of perfused tissue [1-2]. Activation of microbubbles (MB) under specific ultrasound (US) beams induces a transient cell membrane permeabilization with a process known as sonoporation [3-4]. This work aims at evaluating the use of ultrasound and mi- crobubbles for gene transfer in Achilles tendons.

Domaines: Acoustique [physics.class-ph]

Anthony Delalande, Ayache Bouakaz, Patrick Midoux, Michiel Postema, Chantal Pichon. Ultrasound-activated microbubbles for tendon gene transfer: in vivo efficiency and confocal microscopy real time intracellular investigations. 20th International Congress on Acoustics, ICA 2010, Aug 2010, Sydney, Australia. pp.524. ⟨hal-03195559⟩