| Ultrasound contrast enhancement |
Gas bubbles act as harmonic oscillators, taking advantage of the compressibility of the encapsulated gas to resonate with ultrasound frequencies and increase the intensity of the backscattered signal. This produces sonograms with increased contrast due to the high difference in echogenicity |
25, 29–37 and 85–87
|
| Photoacoustic contrast enhancement |
Nanobubbles have shown to be effective mediums for photoacoustic contrast enhancement. Nanobubble shells can be functionalized with antigens, antibodies and other high biomarking affinitive molecules to increase the specificity of photoacoustic imaging |
38–40, 42 and 44
|
| Molecular imaging |
Nanobubbles can be an ideal medium as molecular imaging markers in conjunction with ultrasound or photoacoustic imaging modalities to track molecular changes and predict optimal therapeutic strategies for different types of tumours. Nanobubbles can be functionalized with molecules that target biomarkers of specific tissues and cells of interest. The acoustic properties of the bubbles can be used to temporally and spatially track the bubbles to understand tissues on a molecular level |
43, 45, 46, 48 and 49
|
| Dentistry |
Bulk nanobubbles are utilized to stimulate the growth of dental follicle stem cells and improve proliferation. Bulk nanobubbles have been employed as dental bone reconstruction therapy and for their anti-periodontopathic bacterial properties |
47 and 50–54
|
| Wound healing |
As a replacement for hyperbaric oxygen and trans-obturator tape therapy, oxygen nanobubbles can be injected into damaged hypoxic tissue and deliver oxygen. Further, the negative charge of the oxygen nanobubbles aid in the debridement process |
55–61 and 88
|
| Tumour hypoxia treatment |
Hypoxic environments deteriorate tumour treatment therapies and promote the survival of cancer cells. Lipid-coated nanobubbles have been applied to deliver oxygen to tumours to allow for more effective treatment |
63–69
|
| Non-viral vector gene delivery |
Ultrasound-mediated gene delivery systems make use of nanobubbles to induce micro streams and microjets to create transient pores which allow for genes to be delivered into cells |
70, 71, 73–75 and 89–91
|
| Tumour ablation |
High intensity focused ultrasound and radiofrequency irradiation for tumour ablation benefit from the synergistic effects of bulk nanobubbles. They enhance the effectiveness of these treatments by increasing the acoustic energy deposition in target tissues through bubble oscillations and collapse as well as by the controlled release of thermal sensitizers and drugs to tumours |
83 and 84
|
