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Novel Perfluorinated Triblock Amphiphilic Copolymers for Lipid-Shelled Microbubble Stabilization
journal contribution
posted on 2018-07-21, 00:00 authored by Yohann Corvis, Simona Manta, Caroline Thebault, Olivier Couture, Hélène Dhotel, Jean-Philippe Michel, Johanne Seguin, Michel Bessodes, Philippe Espeau, Chantal Pichon, Cyrille Richard, Nathalie MignetAmphiphilic
triblock (Atri) copolymers made of perfluorinated alkyl
chain linked to hydrocarbon chain and methoxy-poly(ethylene glycol)
of three different molecular weights were synthesized. In vitro evaluation
demonstrated that these new compounds were noncytotoxic. Characterization
and interaction of each triblock copolymer with a branched polyamine
myristoyl lipid (2-{3[bis-(3-amino-propyl)-amino]-propylamino}-N-ditetradecyl carbamoyl methyl-acetamide, DMAPAP) were
studied by the Langmuir film method and thermal analysis. The triblock
copolymer/cationic lipids (1:10, w/w) were mixed with perfluorobutane
gas to form microbubbles (MBs). The latter were characterized by optical
microscopy to get the microbubble size and concentration by densimetry
to determine the amount of encapsulated gas and by ultrasound to assess
oscillation properties. Atri with the lowest and intermediate weights
were shown to interact with the cationic lipid DMAPAP and stabilize
the Langmuir film. In that case, monodisperse microbubbles ranging
from 2.3 ± 0.1 to 2.8 ± 0.1 μm were obtained. The
proportion of encapsulated gas within the MB shell increased up to
3 times after the incorporation of the copolymer with the lowest and
intermediate weights. Moreover, the acoustic response of the microbubbles
was maintained in the presence of the copolymers.