Microbubbling by co-axial electrohydrodynamic atomization

Designing Dual-Responsive Drug Delivery Systems: The Role of Phase Change Materials and Metal-Organic Frameworks

Stimuli-responsive drug delivery systems (DDSs) offer precise control over drug release, enhancing therapeutic efficacy and minimizing side effects. This review focuses on DDSs that leverage the unique capabilities of phase change materials (PCMs) and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) to achieve controlled drug release in response to pH and temperature changes. Specifically, this review highlights the use of a combination of lauric and stearic acids as PCMs that melt slightly above body temperature, providing a thermally responsive mechanism for drug release. Additionally, this review delves into the properties of zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8), a stable MOF under physiological conditions that decomposes in acidic environments, thus offering pH-sensitive drug release capabilities. The integration of these materials enables the fabrication of complex structures that encapsulate drugs within ZIF-8 or are enveloped by PCM layers, ensuring that drug release is tightly controlled by either temperature or pH levels, or both. This review provides comprehensive insights into the core design principles, material selections, and potential biomedical applications of dual-stimuli responsive DDSs, highlighting the future directions and challenges in this innovative field.

Recent advances of electrospray technique for multiparticulate preparation: Drug delivery applications

The electrospray (ES) technique has proven to be an effective and a versatile approach for crafting drug delivery carriers with diverse dimensions, multiple layers, and varying morphologies. Achieving the desired particle properties necessitates careful optimization of various experimental parameters. This review delves into the most prevalent ES system configurations employed for this purpose, such as monoaxial, coaxial, triaxial, and multi-needle setups with solid or liquid collector. In addition, this work underscores the significance of ES in drug delivery carriers and its remarkable ability to encapsulate a wide spectrum of therapeutic agents, including drugs, nucleic acids, proteins, genes and cells. Depth examination of the critical parameters governing the ES process, including the choice of polymer, surface tension, voltage settings, needle size, flow rate, collector types, and the collector distance was conducted with highlighting on their implications on particle characteristics, encompassing morphology, size distribution, and drug encapsulation efficiency. These insights illuminate ES's adaptability in customizing drug delivery systems. To conclude, this review discusses ES process optimization strategies, advantages, limitations and future directions, providing valuable guidance for researchers and practitioners navigating the dynamic landscape of modern drug delivery systems.

Controlled Shrinkage of Microfluidically Generated Microbubbles by Tuning Lipid Concentration

Monodisperse microbubbles with diameters less than 10 μm are desirable in several ultrasound imaging and therapeutic delivery applications. However, conventional approaches to synthesize microbubbles, which are usually agitation-based, produce polydisperse bubbles that are less desirable because of their heterogeneous response when exposed to an ultrasound field. Microfluidics technology has the unique advantage of generating size-controlled monodisperse microbubbles, and it is now well established that the diameter of microfluidically made microbubbles can be tuned by varying the liquid flow rate, gas pressure, and dimensions of the microfluidic channel. It is also observed that once the microbubbles form, the bubbles shrink and eventually stabilize to a quasi-equilibrium diameter, and that the rate of stabilization is related to the lipid solution. However, how the lipid solution concentration affects the degree of bubble shrinkage, and the stable size of microbubbles, has not been thoroughly examined. Here, we investigate whether and how the lipid concentration affects the degree of microbubble shrinkage. Namely, we utilize a flow-focusing microfluidic geometry to generate monodisperse bubbles, and observe the effect of gas composition (2.5, 1.42, and 0.17 wt % octafluoropropane in nitrogen) and lipid concentration (1-16 mg/mL) on the degree of microbubble shrinkage. For the lipid system and gas utilized in these experiments, we observe a monotonic increase in the degree of microbubble shrinkage with decreasing lipid concentration, and no dependency on the gas composition. We hypothesize that the degree of shrinkage is related to lipid concentration by the self-assembly of lipids on the gas-liquid interface during bubble generation and subsequent lipid packing on the interface during shrinkage, which is arrested when a maximum packing density is achieved. We anticipate that this approach for creating and tuning the size of monodisperse microbubbles will find utility in biomedical applications, such as contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging and ultrasound-triggered gene delivery.

Design of Improved Flow-Focusing Microchannel with Constricted Continuous Phase Inlet and Study of Fluid Flow Characteristics

This paper proposed an improved flow-focusing microchannel with a constricted continuous phase inlet to increase microbubble generation frequency and reduce microbubbles' diameter. The design variables were obtained by Latin hypercube sampling, and the radial basis function (RBF) surrogate model was used to establish the relationship between the objective function (microbubble diameter and generation frequency) and the design variables. Moreover, the optimized design of the nondominated sorting genetic algorithm II (NSGA-II) algorithm was carried out. Finally, the optimization results were verified by numerical simulations and compared with those of traditional microchannels. The results showed that dripping and squeezing regimes existed in the two microchannels. The constricted continuous phase inlet enhanced the flow-focusing effect of the improved microchannel. The diameter of microbubbles obtained from the improved microchannel was reduced from 2.8141 to 1.6949 μm, and the generation frequency was increased from 64.077 to 175.438 kHz at the same capillary numbers (Ca) compared with the traditional microchannel. According to the fitted linear function, it is known that the slope of decreasing microbubble diameter with increasing Ca number and the slope of increasing generation frequency with increasing Ca number are greater in the improved microchannel compared with those in the traditional microchannel.

Microbubbles Stabilized by Protein Shell: From Pioneering Ultrasound Contrast Agents to Advanced Theranostic Systems

Ultrasound is a widely-used imaging modality in clinics as a low-cost, non-invasive, non-radiative procedure allowing therapists faster decision-making. Microbubbles have been used as ultrasound contrast agents for decades, while recent attention has been attracted to consider them as stimuli-responsive drug delivery systems. Pioneering microbubbles were Albunex with a protein shell composed of human serum albumin, which entered clinical practice in 1993. However, current research expanded the set of proteins for a microbubble shell beyond albumin and applications of protein microbubbles beyond ultrasound imaging. Hence, this review summarizes all-known protein microbubbles over decades with a critical evaluation of formulations and applications to optimize the safety (low toxicity and high biocompatibility) as well as imaging efficiency. We provide a comprehensive overview of (1) proteins involved in microbubble formulation, (2) peculiarities of preparation of protein stabilized microbubbles with consideration of large-scale production, (3) key chemical factors of stabilization and functionalization of protein-shelled microbubbles, and (4) biomedical applications beyond ultrasound imaging (multimodal imaging, drug/gene delivery with attention to anticancer treatment, antibacterial activity, biosensing). Presented critical evaluation of the current state-of-the-art for protein microbubbles should focus the field on relevant strategies in microbubble formulation and application for short-term clinical translation. Thus, a protein bubble-based platform is very perspective for theranostic application in clinics.

Enhancing In Vitro Stability of Albumin Microbubbles Produced Using Microfluidic T-Junction Device

Microfluidics is an efficient technique for continuous synthesis of monodispersed microbubbles. However, microbubbles produced using microfluidic devices possess lower stability due to quick dissolution of core gas when exposed to an aqueous environment. This work aims at generating highly stable monodispersed albumin microbubbles using microfluidic T-junction devices. Microbubble generation was facilitated by an aqueous phase consisting of bovine serum albumin (BSA) as a model protein and nitrogen (N₂) gas. Microbubbles were chemically cross-linked using dilute glutaraldehyde (0.75% v/v) solution and thermally cross-linked by collecting microbubbles in hot water maintained at 368 (±2) K. These microbubbles were then subjected to in vitro dissolution in an air-saturated water. Microbubbles cross-linked with a combined treatment of thermal and chemical cross-linking (TC & CC) had longer dissolution time compared to microbubbles chemically cross-linked (CC) alone, thermally cross-linked (TC) alone, and non-cross-linked microbubbles. Circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy analysis revealed that percent reduction in alpha-helices of BSA was higher for the combined treatment of TC & CC when compared to other treatments. In contrast to non-cross-linked microbubbles where microbubble shell dissolved completely, a significant shell detachment was observed during the final phase of the dissolution for cross-linked microbubbles captured using high speed camera, depending upon the extent of cross-linking of the microbubble shell. SEM micrographs of the microbubble shell revealed the shell thickness of microbubbles treated with TC & CC to be highest compared to only thermally or only chemically cross-linked microbubbles. Comparison of microbubble dissolution data to a mass transfer model showed that shell resistance to gas permeation was highest for microbubbles subjected to a combined treatment of TC & CC.

Preparation of Nanoparticle-Loaded Microbubbles via an Electrohydrodynamic Atomization Process

Microbubbles have been widely used in many research fields due to their outstanding physicochemical properties and unique structural characteristics, especially as ultrasonic contrast agents and drug delivery carriers. However, the stability of conventional microbubbles is generally poor, which limits the development of their applications. Loading nanoparticle to microbubbles has great potential in enhancing the stability of microbubbles. This paper reports for the first time the feasibility of one-step preparation of nanoparticle-loaded microbubbles by coaxial electrohydrodynamic atomization. Bovine serum albumin (BSA) was used as the model material of the bubble shell layer to study the effect of the loading of nanoparticles on the stability of microbubbles. The results show that the concentration of nanoparticles has a significant impact on the stability of microbubbles, and loading an appropriate amount of nanoparticles is helpful in improving the stability of microbubbles. The results also show that nanoparticle-loaded microbubbles with a size distribution in the range of 120–200 μm can be prepared under optimal conditions.

Micro-Bio-Chemo-Mechanical-Systems: Micromotors, Microfluidics, and Nanozymes for Biomedical Applications

Wireless nano-/micromotors powered by chemical reactions and/or external fields generate motive forces, perform tasks, and significantly extend short-range dynamic responses of passive biomedical microcarriers. However, before micromotors can be translated into clinical use, several major problems, including the biocompatibility of materials, the toxicity of chemical fuels, and deep tissue imaging methods, must be solved. Nanomaterials with enzyme-like characteristics (e.g., catalase, oxidase, peroxidase, superoxide dismutase), that is, nanozymes, can significantly expand the scope of micromotors' chemical fuels. A convergence of nanozymes, micromotors, and microfluidics can lead to a paradigm shift in the fabrication of multifunctional micromotors in reasonable quantities, encapsulation of desired subsystems, and engineering of FDA-approved core-shell structures with tuneable biological, physical, chemical, and mechanical properties. Microfluidic methods are used to prepare stable bubbles/microbubbles and capsules integrating ultrasound, optoacoustic, fluorescent, and magnetic resonance imaging modalities. The aim here is to discuss an interdisciplinary approach of three independent emerging topics: micromotors, nanozymes, and microfluidics to creatively: 1) embrace new ideas, 2) think across boundaries, and 3) solve problems whose solutions are beyond the scope of a single discipline toward the development of micro-bio-chemo-mechanical-systems for diverse bioapplications.

Artificial Nanoscale Erythrocytes from Clinically Relevant Compounds for Enhancing Cancer Immunotherapy

Because of enhanced efficacy and lower side effects, cancer immunotherapies have recently been extensively investigated in clinical trials to overcome the limitations of conventional cancer monotherapies. Although engineering attempts have been made to build nanosystems even including stimulus nanomaterials for the efficient delivery of antigens, adjuvants, or anticancer drugs to improve immunogenic cancer cell death, this requires huge R&D efforts and investment for clinically relevant findings to be approved for translation of the nanosystems. To this end, in this study, an air-liquid two-phase electrospray was developed for stable bubble pressing under a balance between mechanical and electrical parameters of the spray to continuously produce biomimetic nanosystems consisting of only clinically relevant compounds [paclitaxel-loaded fake blood cell Eudragit particle (Eu-FBCP/PTX)] to provide a conceptual leap for the timely development of translatable chemo-immunotherapeutic nanosystems. This was pursued as the efficacy of systems for delivering anticancer agents that has been mainly influenced by nanosystem shape because of its relevance to transporting behavior to organs, blood circulation, and cell-membrane interactions. The resulting Eu-FBCP/PTX nanosystems exhibiting phagocytic and micropinocytic uptake behaviors can confer better efficacy in chemo-immunotherapeutics in the absence and presence of anti-PD-L1 antibodies than similar sized PTX-loaded spherical Eu particles (Eu-s/PTX).

Electrospray for generation of drug delivery and vaccine particles applied in vitro and in vivo

Also known as electrospray, electrohydrodynamic atomization has been used extensively in the last 15 years to develop polymer-based particles for drug delivery in cell and animal models. More recently, novel core-shell, multi-axial, and other electrospray particles have been developed from an array of polymers for a variety of biomedical applications. This review focuses on electrospray as a novel method of particle fabrication for drug delivery, specifically highlighting the applications of these particle systems in cell culture and animal models while also discussing polymers used for particle fabrication. Applications of electrospray particles to treat glioma, ovarian cancer, and breast cancer are reviewed. Additionally, delivery of antibiotics, gene therapy, and bacterial cells formulated in electrospray particles is discussed. Finally, vaccines as well as drug eluting particles for differentiation of stem cells and tissue engineering are highlighted. The article concludes with a discussion of where the future of electrospray technology can go to strengthen its foothold in the biomedical field.

Engineering the Echogenic Properties of Microfluidic Microbubbles Using Mixtures of Recombinant Protein and Amphiphilic Copolymers

Microbubbles are used as ultrasound contrast agents in medical diagnosis and also have shown great promise in ultrasound-mediated therapy. However, short lifetime and broad size distribution of microbubbles limit their applications in therapy and imaging. Moreover, it is challenging to tailor the echogenic response of microbubbles to make them suitable for specific applications. To overcome these challenges, we use microfluidic flow-focusing to prepare monodisperse microbubbles with a mixture of a recombinant amphiphilic protein, oleosin, and a synthetic amphiphilic copolymer, Pluronic. We show that these microbubbles have superior uniformity and stability under ultrasonic stimulation compared to commercial agents. We also demonstrate that by using different Pluronics, the echogenic response of the microbubbles can be tailored. Our work shows the versatility of using the combination of microfluidics and protein/copolymer mixtures as a method of engineering microbubbles. This tunability could potentially be important and powerful in producing microbubble agents for theranostic applications.

Effect of the Mixing Region Geometry and Collector Distance on Microbubble Formation in a Microfluidic Device Coupled with ac-dc Electric Fields

In this work, we report a significant advance in the preparation of monodisperse microbubbles using a combination of microfluidic and electric field technologies. Microbubbles have been employed in various fields such as biomedical engineering, water purification, and food engineering. Many techniques have been investigated for their preparation. Of these, the microfluidic T-junction has shown great potential because of the high degree of control it has over processing parameters and the ability to produce monodisperse microbubbles. Two main lines of investigation were conducted in this work-the effect of varying the mixing region distance (M_x) and the influence of altering the tip-to-collector distance (D_x) when an ac-dc field is applied. It was found that when M_x was decreased from 200 to 100 μm, the microbubble diameter also decreased from 128 ± 3 to 88 ± 5 μm due to an increase in shear stress as a result of a reduction in surface area. Similarly, decreasing the tip-to-collector distance results in an increase in the electric field strength experienced at the nozzle, facilitating further reduction of the bubble diameter from 111 ± 1 to 86 ± 1 μm at an ac voltage of 6 kV P-P and an applied dc voltage of 6 kV. Experiments conducted with the optimal parameters identified from these previous experiments enabled further reduction of the microbubble diameter to 18 ± 2 μm. These results suggest that a unique combination of parameters can be employed to achieve particular microbubble diameters to suit various applications.

Engineering Theranostic Microbubbles Using Microfluidics for Ultrasound Imaging and Therapy: A Review

Microbubbles interact with ultrasound in various ways to enable their applications in ultrasound imaging and diagnosis. To generate high contrast and maximize therapeutic efficacy, microbubbles of high uniformity are required. Microfluidic technology, which enables precise control of small volumes of fluid at the sub-millimeter scale, has provided a versatile platform on which to produce highly uniform microbubbles for potential applications in ultrasound imaging and diagnosis. Here, we describe fundamental microfluidic principles and the most common types of microfluidic devices used to produce sub-10 μm microbubbles, appropriate for biomedical ultrasound. Bubbles can be engineered for specific applications by tailoring the bubble size, inner gas and shell composition and by functionalizing for additional imaging modalities, therapeutics or targeting ligands. To translate the laboratory-scale discoveries to widespread clinical use of these microfluidic-based microbubbles, increased bubble production is needed. We present various strategies recently developed to improve scale-up. We conclude this review by describing some outstanding problems in the field and presenting areas for future use of microfluidics in ultrasound.

Fabrication of ultrasound-responsive microbubbles via coaxial electrohydrodynamic atomization for triggered release of tPA

A single-step fabrication method, coaxial electrohydrodynamic atomization (CEHDA), was developed to synthesize drug-loaded microbubbles (MBs) for combination treatment of ischemic stroke. The bioactivity of therapeutic agent (tPA, tissue plasminogen activator) after preparation was evaluated, showing that CEHDA could be very promising method for producing MBs with therapeutic functions. The bubble performance and tPA release profiles were also examined by exposing the bubbles to 2MHz ultrasound of various intensities. The results showed that the mean diameter of tPA-loaded MBs was found to fluctuate about its original diameter when exposed to ultrasound and higher intensity ultrasound was more effective in triggering the burst of CEHDA MBs. High ultrasound-triggered bubble disintegration effectiveness in a short period (first 5min) fits well with the requirement of short ultrasound exposure time for human brain. Moreover, a numerical model was also applied to investigate the stability of the fabricated MBs in the bloodstream. It was found that MB dissolution time increased with initial radius, decreased with initial surface tension and increased with initial shell resistance but it was barely affected by the average excessive bloodstream pressure.

Physicochemical Characterization of the Shell Composition of PBCA-Based Polymeric Microbubbles

Microbubbles (MB) are routinely used as contrast agents for ultrasound (US) imaging. In recent years, MB have also attracted interest as drug delivery systems. Soft-shelled lipidic MB tend to be more advantageous for US imaging, while hard-shelled polymeric MB appear to be more suitable for drug delivery purposes because of their thicker shell and the resulting higher drug loading capacity. The physicochemical composition of the shell of polymeric MB, however, remains largely unknown. This study sets out to evaluate the molecular weight and polydispersity of the building blocks constituting the shell of poly(butyl cyanoacrylate) (PBCA) MB. Several different PBCA MB were synthesized, varying preparation parameters such as pH, surfactant, stirring speed, and stirring time. Using gel permeation chromatography, it is found that the number average molecular weight (M _n ) of the polymer chains in the shell of PBCA MB is 4 kDa, and that >99% of the polymer chains are below 40 kDa. This demonstrates that virtually all polymeric building blocks in the shell of PBCA MB have a size which allows for renal excretion, thereby supporting their use for drug delivery applications.

Post-Formation Shrinkage and Stabilization of Microfluidic Bubbles in Lipid Solution

Medical ultrasound imaging often employs ultrasound contrast agents (UCAs), injectable microbubbles stabilized by shells or membranes. In tissue, the compressible gas cores can strongly scatter acoustic signals, resonate, and emit harmonics. However, bubbles generated by conventional methods have nonuniform sizes, reducing the fraction that resonates with a given transducer. Microfluidic flow-focusing is an alternative production method which generates highly monodisperse bubbles with uniform constituents, enabling more-efficient contrast enhancement than current UCAs. Production size is tunable by adjusting gas pressure and solution flow rate, but solution effects on downstream stable size and lifetime have not been closely examined. This study therefore investigated several solution parameters, including the DSPC/DSPE-PEG2000 lipid ratio, concentration, viscosity, and preparation temperature to determine their effects on stabilization. It was found that bubble lifetime roughly correlated with stable size, which in turn was strongly influenced by primary-lipid-to-emulsifier ratio, analogous to its effects on conventional bubble yield and Langmuir-trough compressibility in existing studies. Raising DSPE-PEG2000 fraction in solution reduced bubble surface area in proportion to its reduction of lipid packing density at low compression in literature. In addition, the surface area was found to increase proportionately with lipid concentration above 2.1 mM. However, viscosities above or below 2.3-3.3 mPa·s seemed to reduce bubble size. Finally, lipid preparation at room temperature led to smaller bubbles compared to preparation near or above the primary lipid's phase transition point. Understanding these effects will further improve on postformation control over microfluidic bubble production, and facilitate size-tuning for optimal contrast enhancement.

Template-based formation of ultrasound microbubble contrast agents

Precisely controlling microbubble size is critical for medical ultrasound imaging, where large microbubble contrast agents may lead to pulmonary microvascular embolization. Here we introduced a method of preparing uniform microbubbles for ultrasound images.

Electrohydrodynamic atomization: A two-decade effort to produce and process micro-/nanoparticulate materials

Electrohydrodynamic atomization (EHDA), also called electrospray technique, has been studied for more than one century. However, since 1990s it has begun to be used to produce and process micro-/nanostructured materials. Owing to the simplicity and flexibility in EHDA experimental setup, it has been successfully employed to generate particulate materials with controllable compositions, structures, sizes, morphologies, and shapes. EHDA has also been used to deposit micro- and nanoparticulate materials on surfaces in a well-controlled manner. All these attributes make EHDA a fascinating tool for preparing and assembling a wide range of micro- and nanostructured materials which have been exploited for use in pharmaceutics, food, and healthcare to name a few. Our goal is to review this field, which allows scientists and engineers to learn about the EHDA technique and how it might be used to create, process, and assemble micro-/nanoparticulate materials with unique and intriguing properties. We begin with a brief introduction to the mechanism and setup of EHDA technique. We then discuss issues critical to successful application of EHDA technique, including control of composition, size, shape, morphology, structure of particulate materials and their assembly. We also illustrate a few of the many potential applications of particulate materials, especially in the area of drug delivery and regenerative medicine. Next, we review the simulation and modeling of Taylor cone-jet formation for a single and co-axial nozzle. The mathematical modeling of particle transport and deposition is presented to provide a deeper understanding of the effective parameters in the preparation, collection and pattering processes. We conclude this article with a discussion on perspectives and future possibilities in this field.

Stabilization and fabrication of microbubbles: applications for medical purposes and functional materials

Microbubbles with diameters ranging from a few micrometers to tens of micrometers have garnered significant attention in various applications including food processing, water treatment, enhanced oil recovery, surface cleaning, medical purposes, and material preparation fields with versatile functionalities. A variety of techniques have been developed to prepare microbubbles, such as ultrasonication, excimer laser ablation, high shear emulsification, membrane emulsification, an inkjet printing method, electrohydrodynamic atomization, template layer-by-layer deposition, and microfluidics. Generated bubbles should be immediately stabilized via the adsorption of stabilizing materials (e.g., surfactants, lipids, proteins, and solid particles) onto the gas-liquid interface to lower the interfacial tension. Such adsorption of stabilizers prevents coalescence between the microbubbles and also suppresses gas dissolution and resulting disproportionation caused by the presence of the Laplace overpressure across the gas-liquid interface. Herein, we comprehensively review three important topics of microbubbles: stabilization, fabrication, and applications.

Preparation of monodisperse microbubbles using an integrated embedded capillary T-junction with electrohydrodynamic focusing

This work investigates the generation of monodisperse microbubbles using a microfluidic setup combined with electrohydrodynamic processing. A basic T-junction microfluidic device was modified by applying an electrical potential difference across the outlet channel. A model glycerol air system was selected for the experiments. In order to investigate the influence of the electric field strength on bubble formation, the applied voltage was increased systematically up to 21 kV. The effect of solution viscosity and electrical conductivity was also investigated. It was found that with increasing electrical potential difference, the size of the microbubbles reduced to ~25% of the capillary diameter whilst their size distribution remained narrow (polydispersity index ~1%). A critical value of 12 kV was found above which no further significant reduction in the size of the microbubbles was observed. The findings suggest that the size of the bubbles formed in the T-junction (i.e. in the absence of the electric field) is strongly influenced by the viscosity of the solution. The eventual size of bubbles produced by the composite device, however, was only weakly dependent upon viscosity. Further experiments, in which the solution electrical conductivity was varied by the addition of a salt indicated that this had a much stronger influence upon bubble size.

Formation, stability, and mechanical properties of bovine serum albumin stabilized air bubbles produced using coaxial electrohydrodynamic atomization

Bovine serum albumin (BSA) microbubbles were generated using coaxial electrohydrodynamic atomization (CEDHA) using various concentrations of BSA solutions. The bubble characteristics and the long-term stability of the microbubbles were studied through adjustment of processing parameters and the collection media. Bubbles in the range of 40-800 μm were obtained in a controlled fashion, and increasing the flow rate of the BSA solution reduced the polydispersity of the microbubbles. Use of distilled water-glutaraldehyde, glycerol, and glycerol-Tween 80 collection media allowed a remarkable improvement in bubble stability compared to BSA solution collection medium. Possible physical mechanisms were developed to explain the stability of the microbubbles. The collection distance showed a marked influence on stability of the microbubbles. Near-monodisperse particle-reinforced microbubbles were formed with various concentrations of 2,2'-azobis(isobutyramidine) dihydrochloride (AIBA)-polystyrene particle in BSA solution. The bubble size and the size distribution showed negligible change over a period of time irrespective of the concentration of particles at the bubble surface. The compression stiffness of the microbubbles was determined using nanoindentation at ambient temperature and showed that the stiffness of the microbubbles increased from 8 N/m to 20 N/m upon changing the concentration of BSA solution from 5 wt % to 15 wt %.

Coaxial electrospray of microparticles and nanoparticles for biomedical applications

Coaxial electrospray is an electrohydrodynamic process that produces multilayer microparticles and nanoparticles by introducing coaxial electrified jets. In comparison with other microencapsulation/nanoencapsulation processes, coaxial electrospray has several potential advantages such as high encapsulation efficiency, effective protection of bioactivity and uniform size distribution. However, process control in coaxial electrospray is challenged by the multiphysical nature of the process and the complex interplay of multiple design, process and material parameters. This paper reviews the previous works and the recent advances in design, modeling and control of a coaxial electrospray process. The review intends to provide general guidance for coaxial electrospray and stimulate further research and development interests in this promising microencapsulation/nanoencapsulation process.

Production rate and diameter analysis of spherical monodisperse microbubbles from two-dimensional, expanding-nozzle flow-focusing microfluidic devices

Flow-focusing microfluidic devices (FFMDs) can produce microbubbles (MBs) with precisely controlled diameters and a narrow size distribution. In this paper, poly-dimethyl-siloxane based, rectangular-nozzle, two-dimensional (2-D) planar, expanding-nozzle FFMDs were characterized using a high speed camera to determine the production rate and diameter of Tween 20 (2% v/v) stabilized MBs. The effect of gas pressure and liquid flow rate on MB production rate and diameter was analyzed in order to develop a relationship between FFMD input parameters and MB production. MB generation was observed to transition through five regimes at a constant gas pressure and increasing liquid flow rate. Each MB generation event (i.e., break-off to break-off) was further separated into two characteristic phases: bubbling and waiting. The duration of the bubbling phase was linearly related to the liquid flow rate, while the duration of the waiting phase was related to both liquid flow rate and gas pressure. The MB production rate was found to be inversely proportional to the sum of the bubbling and waiting times, while the diameter was found to be proportional to the product of the gas pressure and bubbling time.

Multifunctional microbubbles and nanobubbles for photoacoustic imaging

Photoacoustic imaging is an emerging imaging modality for noninvasive detection of tissue structural and functional anomalies. Multifunctional microbubbles (MBs) and nanobubbles (NBs) are contrast agents integrating multiple disease-targeting, imaging and therapeutic functions. Multifunctional MBs and NBs represent an enabling technology for many potential applications in the field of photoacoustic imaging. Highly absorbing optical contrast agents, such as gold nanoparticles, India ink and Indocyanine Green, can be encapsulated in MBs and NBs for stable absorption properties and multimodal imaging contrasts. The surface of MBs and NBs can be modified for high disease-targeting affinity, reduced immunogenicity and prolonged circulation lifetime. Low boiling point perfluorocarbon compounds can be encapsulated in MBs and NBs for selective activation by external energy sources. The activation of these MBs and NBs may introduce significant contrast enhancement and facilitate a variety of potential clinical applications, such as image-guided drug delivery and therapeutic margin assessment. MB and NB enhanced photoacoustic imaging is still in its infancy. Further development and validation works are necessary for successful translation of the technology from the benchtop to the bedside.

Controllable gas/liquid/liquid double emulsions in a dual-coaxial microfluidic device

This article presents a simple and novel approach to prepare monodispersed gas-in-oil-in-water (G/O/W) and gas-in-water-in-oil (G/W/O) double-emulsions in the same dual-coaxial microfluidic device. The effects of three phase flow rates on the sizes of microbubbles and droplets and the number of the encapsulated microbubbles were systematically studied. We successfully synthesized two different types of gas/liquid/liquid (G/L/L) double emulsions with different inner structures in the same geometry by adjusting the flow rates sequentially. Mathematical models were developed to predict the size and structures of the double emulsions. This simple approach gives a new idea for preparing hollow and porous microspheres with microbubbles as the direct core/pores templates.

Applications of magnetic microbubbles for theranostics

Compared with other diagnostic methods, ultrasound is proven to be a safe, simple, non-invasive and cost-effective imaging technique, but the resolution is not comparable to that of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Contrast-enhanced ultrasound employing microbubbles can gain a better resolution and is now widely used to diagnose a number of diseases in the clinic. For the last decade, microbubbles have been widely used as ultrasound contrast agents, drug delivery systems and nucleic acid transfection tools. However, microbubbles are not fairly stable enough in some conditions and are not well administrated distributed in the circulation system. On the other hand, magnetic nanoparticles, as MRI contrast agents, can non-specifically penetrate into normal tissues because of their relatively small sizes. By taking advantage of these two kinds of agents, the magnetic microbubbles which couple magnetic iron oxides nanoparticles in the microbubble structure have been explored. The stability of microbubbles can be raised by encapsulating magnetic nanoparticles into the bubble shells and with the guidance of magnetic field, magnetic microbubbles can be delivered to regions of interest, and after appropriate ultrasound exposure, the nanoparticles can be released to the desired area while the magnetic microbubbles collapse. In this review, we summarize magnetic microbubbles used in diagnostic and therapeutic fields, and predict the potential applications of magnetic microbubbles in the future.

Ceramic encapsulation with polymer via co-axial electrohydrodynamic jetting

Co-flowing media of a polymeric solution (30 wt% polymethylsilsesquioxane in ethanol) and a ceramic suspension (10 wt% alumina in glycerol) were subjected to an electric field. The flow rates of the media (10-30 microL min(-1)) and the applied voltage (0-11 kV) were varied systematically during the experimentation by making gradual increments to each variable, which enabled the construction of a mode selection map. Under co-flowing conditions, with the flow rate of polymer solution (outer needle) twice that of the ceramic suspension (inner needle), encapsulated droplets of polymer-coated alumina were produced within stable cone-jet mode. These were collected in a thin film of water and the resultant particle size varied between 1 and 38 microm. Encapsulation was confirmed with scanning electron microscopy and element analysis.

Phospholipid-coated gas bubble engineering: key parameters for size and stability control, as determined by an acoustical method

We have recently reported the sampling of differently sized monomodal populations of microbubbles from a polydisperse lipid-coated bubble preparation. The microbubbles were coated with dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC) and stabilized by perfluorohexane (PFH). Such microbubbles are useful as contrast agents and, potentially, for oxygen, drug, and gene delivery and as therapeutic devices. Monomodal populations of small bubbles (approximately 1.6 microm in radius) and large bubbles (approximately 5.4 microm) have been obtained, as assessed by acoustical measurement, static light scattering, and optical microscopy. In this paper, we have determined the influence of various preparation parameters on the initial size characteristics (mean radius and radii distribution) of the microbubbles and on their stability upon time. The bubble size was determined acoustically, with a homemade acoustic setup equipped with a low-power emitter, to avoid altering the bubble stability. We have focused on the effects of the bubble flotation time during the fractionation process and on the DMPC concentration. PFH was indispensable for obtaining stable bubbles. The nature of the buffer [Isoton II vs N-2-hydroxyethylpiperazine-N'-2-ethanesulfonic acid (HEPES)] used as the continuous phase did not significantly impact the bubble characteristics and stability. In both buffers, the half-lives of small bubbles (approximately 1.6 microm in radius in Isoton II and approximately 2.1 microm in HEPES) were found to be longer than those of larger ones (approximately 5.4 and approximately 5.9 microm in Isoton II and HEPES, respectively). The bubble stability study revealed that in both buffers, the average radius of the population of large bubbles progressively increased with time. On the other hand, the average radius of the population of small bubbles decreased slightly in Isoton II and remained constant in HEPES. This suggests that the dissolution behavior of small and large bubbles is governed by different mechanisms.

Morphological and structural properties of two-phase coaxial jet electrosprayed BSA-PLA capsules

Bovine serum albumin (BSA) was encapsulated with poly (lactide) (PLA) using a two-phase coaxial jet electrospray technique in which two immiscible liquids were injected separately through two concentrically located and electrified capillary needles under a sufficiently strong electric field. BSA acted as the driving liquid due to its high electrical conductivity, while the high viscosity of the PLA and low interfacial tension of the PLA and BSA solutions favoured the formation of stable cone-jets. The morphology of the particles was changed from irregular to fully spherical with smooth surfaces when the PLA concentration increased from 1 to 5%. The effects of the PLA concentration and flow rate and applied voltage on particle size were statistically significant. Particle size increased as PLA concentration increased from 2 to 3.5% and decreased as the applied voltage was increased from 15 to 19 kV. No BSA melting peak was detected in DSC plot and BSA exhibited an amorphous or disordered-crystalline state in the PLA micoparticles, while FTIR results indicated that the secondary structure of the BSA was preserved.

Preparation of suspensions of phospholipid-coated microbubbles by coaxial electrohydrodynamic atomization

The use of phospholipid-coated microbubbles for medical applications is gaining considerable attention. However, the preparation of lipid-coated microbubble suspensions containing the ideal size and size distribution of bubbles still represents a considerable challenge. The most commonly used preparation methods of sonication and mechanical agitation result in the generation of polydisperse microbubbles with diameters ranging from less than 1 microm to greater than 50 microm. Efforts have been made via distinctly different techniques such as microfluidic and electrohydrodynamic bubbling to prepare lipid-coated microbubbles with diameters less than 10 microm and with a narrow size distribution, and recent results have been highly promising. In this paper, we describe a detailed investigation of the latter method that essentially combines liquid and air flow, and an applied electric field to generate microbubbles. A parametric plot was constructed between the air flow rate (Qg) and the lipid suspension flow rate (Ql) to identify suitable flow rate regimes for the preparation of phospholipid-coated microbubbles with a mean diameter of 6.6 microm and a standard deviation of 2.5 microm. The parametric plot has also helped in developing a scaling equation between the bubble diameter and the ratio Qg/Ql. At ambient temperature (22 degrees C), these bubbles were very stable with their size remaining almost unchanged for 160 min. The influence of higher temperatures such as the human body temperature (37 degrees C) on the size and stability of the microbubbles was also explored. It was found that the mean bubble diameter fell rapidly to begin with but then stabilized at 1-2 microm after 20 min.

Stability of microbubbles prepared by co-axial electrohydrodynamic atomisation

Previous studies have indicated that microbubbles prepared by co-axial electrohydrodynamic atomisation (CEHDA) are less stable than those prepared by other methods such as sonication and microfluidic techniques. The aim of this investigation was to determine the reasons for this observation and how this might be addressed in future work. Microbubbles were prepared by CEHDA using (i) a glycerol-air system, (ii) a glycerol-Tween 80-air system and (iii) a glycerol-zirconia-air system and also by simple agitation of (i) and (ii), in order to compare the effect upon the dissolution rate of microbubbles of different materials and processing methods. Both theoretical examination and the experimental results indicated that all three quantities were important in controlling the rate of microbubble dissolution, namely: surface tension at the gas/liquid interface, the effective diffusivity of gas through this interface and the initial concentration of gas dissolved in the surrounding liquid. However, it was the difference in gas concentration in the surrounding liquid that was indicated as the primary reason for the differences in stability observed with different processing methods. It was concluded, therefore, that improved stability could be achieved for microbubbles prepared using CEHDA by saturating the collecting fluid with gas and/or maintaining a high concentration of microbubbles during collection.

Generation of multilayered structures for biomedical applications using a novel tri-needle coaxial device and electrohydrodynamic flow

In this short communication, we describe the scope and flexibility of using a novel device containing three coaxially arranged needles to form a variety of novel morphologies. Different combinations of materials are subjected to controlled flow through the device under the influence of an applied electric field. The resulting electrohydrodynamic flow allows us to prepare double-layered bubbles, porous encapsulated threads and nanocapsules containing three layers. The ability to process such multilayered structures is very significant for biomedical engineering applications, for example, generating capsules for drug delivery, which can provide multistage controlled release.

Generation of multilayered structures for biomedical applications using a novel tri-needle coaxial device and electrohydrodynamic flow

In this short communication, we describe the scope and flexibility of using a novel device containing three coaxially arranged needles to form a variety of novel morphologies. Different combinations of materials are subjected to controlled flow through the device under the influence of an applied electric field. The resulting electrohydrodynamic flow allows us to prepare double-layered bubbles, porous encapsulated threads and nanocapsules containing three layers. The ability to process such multilayered structures is very significant for biomedical engineering applications, for example, generating capsules for drug delivery, which can provide multistage controlled release.