albumin - publications

1. Ultrasound Med Biol. 2012 Apr 12. [Epub ahead of print]

Effect of Albumin and Dextrose Concentration on Ultrasound and Microbubble
Mediated Gene Transfection In Vivo.

Browning RJ, Mulvana H, Tang MX, Hajnal JV, Wells DJ, Eckersley RJ.

Imaging Sciences Department, Imperial College London, London, UK.

Ultrasound and microbubble mediated gene transfection has great potential for
site-selective, safe gene delivery. Albumin-based microbubbles have shown the
greatest transfection efficiency but have not been optimised specifically for
this purpose. Additionally, few studies have highlighted desirable properties for
transfection specific microbubbles. In this article, microbubbles were made with
2% or 5% (w/v) albumin and 20% or 40% (w/v) dextrose solutions, yielding four
distinct bubble types. These were acoustically characterised and their efficiency
in transfecting a luciferase plasmid (pGL4.13) into female, CD1 mice myocardia
was measured. For either albumin concentration, increasing the dextrose
concentration increased scattering, attenuation and resistance to ultrasound,
resulting in significantly increased transfection. A significant interaction was
noted between albumin and dextrose; 2% albumin bubbles made with 20% dextrose
showed the least transfection but the most transfection with 40% dextrose. This
trend was seen for both nonlinear scattering and attenuation behaviour but not
for resistance to ultrasound or total scatter. We have determined that the
attenuation behaviour is an important microbubble characteristic for effective
gene transfection using ultrasound. Microbubble behaviour can also be simply
controlled by altering the initial ingredients used during manufacture.

Copyright © 2012 World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology. Published
by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

PMID: 22502878 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]