Sonosensitive Cavitation Nuclei-A Customisable Platform Technology for Enhanced Therapeutic Delivery

• Published in: Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 28; no. 23; p. 7733
• Main Authors: Lyons, Brian, Balkaran, Joel P R, Dunn-Lawless, Darcy, Lucian, Veronica, Keller, Sara B, O'Reilly, Colm S, Hu, Luna, Rubasingham, Jeffrey, Nair, Malavika, Carlisle, Robert, Stride, Eleanor, Gray, Michael, Coussios, Constantin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 23.11.2023
• Subjects: Acoustics; Bubbles; Cavitation; cavitation nuclei; Contrast agents; drug delivery; Drug Delivery Systems; Drug dosages; Drugs; Gases; Health aspects; Lipids; Microbubbles; nanoparticles; Polymers; Proteins; Research & development expenditures; sonosensitive; Technology application; Ultrasonic imaging; Ultrasonography; ultrasound; Vehicles; United Kingdom; cavitation nuclei; nanoparticles; drug delivery; sonosensitive; ultrasound; cavitation
• ISSN: 1420-3049; 1420-3049
• DOI: 10.3390/molecules28237733

Ultrasound-mediated cavitation shows great promise for improving targeted drug delivery across a range of clinical applications. Cavitation nuclei-sound-sensitive constructs that enhance cavitation activity at lower pressures-have become a powerful adjuvant to ultrasound-based treatments, and more recently emerged as a drug delivery vehicle in their own right. The unique combination of physical, biological, and chemical effects that occur around these structures, as well as their varied compositions and morphologies, make cavitation nuclei an attractive platform for creating delivery systems tuned to particular therapeutics. In this review, we describe the structure and function of cavitation nuclei, approaches to their functionalization and customization, various clinical applications, progress toward real-world translation, and future directions for the field.