Systems, methods, and devices for microbubbles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9107950-B2
Application number	US-201013394162-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 15, 2010
Priority date	Sep 15, 2009
Publication date	Aug 18, 2015
Grant date	Aug 18, 2015

Abstract

A suspension of gas-filled microbubbles can be synthesized by sonicating a lipid solution and a first gas in a reaction volume. The resulting microbubble suspension can be stored for later use, for example, for infusion into a patient for gas delivery thereto. Various techniques can improve the shelf life of the microbubbles. For example, the microbubble suspension can be freeze-dried to remove water and the first gas therefrom while leaving the microbubble shells intact. In an alternative, the microbubble suspension can be frozen. In still another alternative, the microbubble suspension can be formed with a first gas that has a low solubility, thereby creating microbubbles with increased stability. Prior to use, the microbubble suspension can be prepared by exchanging the gas in the microbubble cores, rehydrating, and/or raising the temperature of the stored microbubbles.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A microbubble method comprising:
generating a plurality of microbubbles by ultrasonically agitating an interface between a lipid solution and a first gas in a reaction volume, each generated microbubble having a lipid monolayer shell surrounding a core of the first gas;
freezing the generated plurality of microbubbles so as to remove water and the first gas therefrom, leaving behind freeze-dried lipid monolayer shells;
sealing the freeze-dried lipi…

Assignees

• Borden Mark A
• Swanson Edward J
• Univ Columbia

Inventors

• Borden Mark A
• Swanson Edward J

Classifications

• A61K9/0026

  Human Necessities · mapped topic

• B01J13/02

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• A61K49/223 Primary

  Human Necessities · mapped topic

• B01J13/04

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic