This review offers a critical analysis of the state of the art of medical microbubbles and their application in therapeutic delivery and monitoring. When driven by an ultrasonic pulse, these small gas bubbles oscillate with a wall velocity on the order of tens to hundreds of meters per second and can be deflected to a vessel wall or fragmented into particles on the order of nanometers. While single-session molecular imaging of multiple targets is difficult with affinity-based strategies employed in some other imaging modalities, microbubble fragmentation facilitates such studies. Similarly, a focused ultrasound beam can be used to disrupt delivery vehicles and blood vessel walls, offering the opportunity to locally deliver a drug or gene. Clinical translation of these vehicles will require that current challenges be overcome, where these challenges include rapid clearance and low payload. The technology, early successes with drug and gene delivery, and potential clinical applications are reviewed.

中文翻译：

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超声微泡造影剂：基本原理及其在基因和药物传递中的应用。

这篇评论提供了对医学微泡的最新状态及其在治疗性递送和监测中的应用的批判性分析。当由超声波脉冲驱动时，这些小气泡以每秒几十到几百米的壁速度振荡，并且可以偏转到血管壁或破碎成纳米级的颗粒。尽管在其他一些成像方式中采用基于亲和力的策略很难对多个靶标进行单会话分子成像，但微气泡破碎有助于此类研究。类似地，聚焦的超声波束可用于破坏输送工具和血管壁，从而提供了局部输送药物或基因的机会。这些车辆的临床翻译将需要克服当前的挑战，这些挑战包括快速清除和低有效载荷。审查了该技术，药物和基因递送的早期成功以及潜在的临床应用。