The dynamic of contrast agent and surrounding fluid in the vicinity of a wall for sonoporation

TL;DR

This study models the behavior of contrast microbubbles near a cell-like wall under ultrasound, analyzing how their collapse generates shear stress that can perforate cell membranes, using boundary element simulations with different encapsulation models.

Contribution

It introduces a boundary element method simulation of contrast microbubble dynamics near a rigid wall, comparing viscoelastic and Marmottant models for encapsulation effects.

Findings

Microbubbles form high-velocity microjets towards the wall.

Shear stress on the wall depends on microbubble parameters.

Encapsulation models influence microbubble collapse behavior.

Abstract

Contrast microbubbles (contrast agents) were initially developed to increase the contrast of the image in ultrasound imaging. These microbubbles consist of a gas core encapsulated by a layer of protein or lipid to stabilize them against early dissolution in the bloodstream. Contrast agents, in the presence of ultrasound, can also help facilitate the uptake of drugs and genes in to desired cells through the process called sonoporation. Sonoporation is the temporarily rupture of cell membranes in the presence of ultrasound. In this work, we have studied the contrast agent near a rigid wall (assumed as a cell membrane with high elastic modulus) in the presence of ultrasound using boundary element method. The contrast agent forms non-symmetrical high velocity microjet at the last stage of the collapse phase. The microjet and the adjacent surrounding fluid move toward the rigid wall with a very high velocity. This high velocity fluid impinges the wall and spreads radially along it. This will generate high velocity gradient on the wall which gives rise to shear stress resulting in the perforation of cell membrane. The encapsulation of the microbubble can be assumed as an interface with an infinitesimal thickness. There are several models to simulate the interface. In this study, the encapsulation is simulated with two models; viscoelastic model with exponentially varying elasticity (EEM) and Marmottant model. In this research, we have studied the effect of different parameters on the dynamics of the contrast microbubble, the induced shear stress on the wall due to its collapse, and the velocity and pressure fields surrounding the contrast microbubble, to better understand sonoporation.