School of Engineering and Materials Science, Queen Mary University of London, UK.
Int J Hyperthermia. 2009 Nov;25(7):533-41. doi: 10.3109/02656730903061617.
Functionalised nanoparticles have been proposed as potential agents for non-invasive therapies where an external source such as a laser or an electro-magnetic wave is used to heat targeted particles for either drug release or malignant cell damage. It is desirable to have intracellular reactions to minimise the damage to health cells. However, it is still debatable from the thermal response point of view, whether intracellular hyperthermia is better than extracellular delivery due to conventional ideas of localisation of heat by nanoparticles. This work conducts an analytical study on the heating of a single nanoparticle by a pulsed laser and reveals the potential role of the formation of nanobubbles around heated particles. The rapid formation and contraction of bubbles around heated nanoparticles, associated with the propagation of pressure waves, could bring thermal-mechanical damage to surrounding cells at a dimension much larger than that of a nanoparticle. The challenges of the study of nanobubbles are highlighted and their potential healthcare implications are discussed.
功能化纳米粒子已被提议作为非侵入性治疗的潜在药物，其中外部源（如激光或电磁波）用于加热靶向粒子以进行药物释放或恶性细胞损伤。期望进行细胞内反应以最小化对健康细胞的损伤。然而，从热响应的角度来看，由于纳米粒子的热定位的传统观念，细胞内过热是否优于细胞外输送仍然存在争议。这项工作对单个纳米粒子的激光加热进行了分析研究，并揭示了加热颗粒周围纳米气泡形成的潜在作用。与压力波传播相关的加热纳米颗粒周围气泡的快速形成和收缩可能会在远大于纳米颗粒的尺寸上对周围细胞造成热机械损伤。突出了纳米气泡研究的挑战，并讨论了它们在医疗保健方面的潜在影响。
