Tu Juan, Yu Alfred C H
Key Laboratory of Modern Acoustics (MOE), Department of Physics, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructure, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.
Schlegel Research Institute for Aging, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.
BME Front. 2022 Jan 29;2022:9807347. doi: 10.34133/2022/9807347. eCollection 2022.
Sonoporation, or the use of ultrasound in the presence of cavitation nuclei to induce plasma membrane perforation, is well considered as an emerging physical approach to facilitate the delivery of drugs and genes to living cells. Nevertheless, this emerging drug delivery paradigm has not yet reached widespread clinical use, because the efficiency of sonoporation is often deemed to be mediocre due to the lack of detailed understanding of the pertinent scientific mechanisms. Here, we summarize the current observational evidence available on the notion of sonoporation, and we discuss the prevailing understanding of the physical and biological processes related to sonoporation. To facilitate systematic understanding, we also present how the extent of sonoporation is dependent on a multitude of factors related to acoustic excitation parameters (ultrasound frequency, pressure, cavitation dose, exposure time), microbubble parameters (size, concentration, bubble-to-cell distance, shell composition), and cellular properties (cell type, cell cycle, biochemical contents). By adopting a science-backed approach to the realization of sonoporation, ultrasound-mediated drug delivery can be more controllably achieved to viably enhance drug uptake into living cells with high sonoporation efficiency. This drug delivery approach, when coupled with concurrent advances in ultrasound imaging, has potential to become an effective therapeutic paradigm.
声穿孔，即在存在空化核的情况下使用超声波诱导质膜穿孔，被公认为是一种新兴的物理方法，有助于将药物和基因递送至活细胞。然而，这种新兴的药物递送模式尚未广泛应用于临床，因为由于对相关科学机制缺乏详细了解，声穿孔的效率通常被认为较为一般。在此，我们总结了目前关于声穿孔概念的现有观察证据，并讨论了对与声穿孔相关的物理和生物学过程的普遍理解。为便于系统理解，我们还阐述了声穿孔的程度如何取决于与声激发参数（超声频率、压力、空化剂量、暴露时间）、微泡参数（大小、浓度、气泡与细胞的距离、壳组成）以及细胞特性（细胞类型、细胞周期、生化成分）相关的众多因素。通过采用基于科学的方法来实现声穿孔，可以更可控地实现超声介导的药物递送，从而以高声穿孔效率切实提高药物进入活细胞的摄取量。这种药物递送方法，再结合超声成像的同步进展，有可能成为一种有效的治疗模式。
