TY - JOUR
T1 - Coated microbubbles swim via shell buckling
AU - Chabouh, Georges
AU - Mokbel, Marcel
AU - van Elburg, Benjamin
AU - Versluis, Michel
AU - Segers, Tim
AU - Aland, Sebastian
AU - Quilliet, Catherine
AU - Coupier, Gwennou
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2023.
PY - 2023/9/7
Y1 - 2023/9/7
N2 - Engineered microswimmers show great promise in various biomedical applications. However, their application is hindered by the slow mobility, limited maneuverability and poor biocompatibility. Lipid coated microbubbles have high compressibility and are already approved for clinical use as diagnostic ultrasound contrast agents. Here we experimentally investigate the swimming motion of these microbubbles under external cyclic overpressure. A net displacement was generated via reproducible and non-destructive cycles of deflation and re-inflation of the microbubble. We also propose a numerical model which allows a maximum swimming speed on the order of meters per second, which falls in the range of blood flow velocity in large vessels. Unlike the acoustic radiation force technique, where the displacement is always directed along the axis of ultrasound propagation, here, the direction of propulsion is controlled in the shell reference frame. This provides a solution toward controlled steering for ultrasound molecular imaging and drug delivery.
AB - Engineered microswimmers show great promise in various biomedical applications. However, their application is hindered by the slow mobility, limited maneuverability and poor biocompatibility. Lipid coated microbubbles have high compressibility and are already approved for clinical use as diagnostic ultrasound contrast agents. Here we experimentally investigate the swimming motion of these microbubbles under external cyclic overpressure. A net displacement was generated via reproducible and non-destructive cycles of deflation and re-inflation of the microbubble. We also propose a numerical model which allows a maximum swimming speed on the order of meters per second, which falls in the range of blood flow velocity in large vessels. Unlike the acoustic radiation force technique, where the displacement is always directed along the axis of ultrasound propagation, here, the direction of propulsion is controlled in the shell reference frame. This provides a solution toward controlled steering for ultrasound molecular imaging and drug delivery.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85187688256&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s44172-023-00113-z
DO - 10.1038/s44172-023-00113-z
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85187688256
SN - 2731-3395
VL - 2
JO - Communications Engineering
JF - Communications Engineering
IS - 1
M1 - 63
ER -