Perfluorooctyl bromide traces self-assembled with polymeric nanovesicles for blood pool ultrasound imaging

A novel perfluorooctyl bromide (PFOB)-loaded nanovesicle with a size of about 500 nm was prepared by self-assembly of an amphiphilic block copolymer, poly(ethylene oxide)-b-poly(d,l-lactic acid) (PEG-PDLLA), for blood pool ultrasound imaging. The excellent compatibility of PFOB with the hydrophobic PDLLA block makes PFOB uniformly distribute and integrate well within the nanovesicle shell. In theory, both the compressibility and shell density of the nanovesicle as ultrasound scatterers are enhanced, resulting in much higher echo intensity compared to the other PFOB nanoparticles. In vitro and in vivo imaging results illustrate that these polymeric nanovesicles with extremely low content of PFOB show quite a good contrast-enhancing effect even if highly diluted in blood. Therefore this PFOB-loaded polymeric nanovesicle is anticipated to be applicable as an ultrasound contrast agent for normal angiography and specific imaging of capillary-abundant organs or tissues (e.g. tumors).