Introduction to the Ultrasound Targeted Microbubble Destruction Technique

UTMD stands for ultrasound targeted microbubble.Destruction. UTMD can be used to direct site specific delivery of bioactive molecules, including therapeutic genes to target organs accessible to ultrasound such as the heart and liver. In UTMD bioactive molecules such as negatively charged plasmid, DNA vectors encoding a gene of interest are added to the cation shells of lipid microbubble contrast agents, the vector bound microbubbles can be administered intravenously or directly to the left ventricle of the heart.

In larger animals, they can also be delivered by an trac coronary catheter with or without a dwell period. The subsequent delivery from the circulation to a target organ occurs optimally through acoustic cavitation at a resonant frequency of the microbubbles. It seems likely that the mechanical energy generated by the microbubble destruction results in transient pore formation in or between the endothelial cells of the micro vasculature of the targeted region.