Issue 5, 2014

Fabrication of uniform sized polylactone microcapsules by premix membrane emulsification for ultrasound imaging

Abstract

An ultrasound contrast agent (UCA) plays a key role in ultrasound imaging to precisely diagnose coronary heart disease. Microcapsules composed of inner gas and shell materials are most commonly employed as ultrasound contrast agents. The ultrasonic properties of the microcapsules are significantly dependent on their size and size distribution. Herein, we prepared several uniform sized biodegradable polylactone microcapsules by combining a premix membrane emulsification technique and W/O/W method. We investigated various size-dependent factors to optimize the size and size distribution of the microcapsules. After evaluation for ultrasound imaging, ∼4 μm PLLA (poly(L-lactide)) microcapsules generated more intense ultrasound signals than PLGA7030 or PLGA5050 (poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid), the molar ratio of lactic acid and glycolic acid being 70 : 30 or 50 : 50), PEG-b-PLGA7030 (poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)), PLC5050 (poly(L-lactide-co-caprolactone), the molar ratio of lactide and caprolactone being 50 : 50) and PEG-b-PLLA microcapsules. The signal duration of the PLLA and PEG-PLLA microcapsules could reach ca. 3 and 3.5 min continuously. The ultrasound signal intensity and duration of the signals of PLLA microcapsules were considerably stronger and longer than those of commercially available UCAs, showing that the PLLA microcapsules have a great potential as more efficient UCAs for biomedical imaging.

Graphical abstract: Fabrication of uniform sized polylactone microcapsules by premix membrane emulsification for ultrasound imaging

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
25 Aug 2013
Accepted
27 Sep 2013
First published
01 Oct 2013

Polym. Chem., 2014,5, 1693-1701

Fabrication of uniform sized polylactone microcapsules by premix membrane emulsification for ultrasound imaging

B. Liu, X. Zhou, F. Yang, H. Shen, S. Wang, B. Zhang, G. Zhi and D. Wu, Polym. Chem., 2014, 5, 1693 DOI: 10.1039/C3PY01144E

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements