Ultrasound, Antibubbles and the BBB

Since it is challenging to achieve the delivery of therapeutic agents using conventional microbubbles, we have worked with and advanced a new type of ultrasound contrast agent – the antibubble. It contains a liquid core as well as air and thus responds to ultrasound, but is much more stable than microbubbles. Optimizing the fabrication process, which is based on water/oil/water emulsions stabilized by nanoparticles, allowed us to achieve extremely stable carriers that contain a sizeable payload and that can be triggered with low intensity ultrasound – much lower than what is possible with conventional microbubble technology. We are working on the application to a BBB model with imaging and then within the Max Planck-Yonsei IBS Center to an appropriate mouse model. The image above was created using Biorender.