Biomedical nanobubbles and opportunities for microfluidics.

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Nanotechnology
• Materials Science

Background:

• Bulk nanobubble technologies are increasingly utilized in biomedicine for diverse therapeutic and diagnostic applications.
• Existing applications include cancer drug delivery, ultrasound contrast enhancement, malaria detection, and tissue rejection diagnosis.
• Clinical translation of nanobubble technologies could significantly improve patient care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review current applications, fabrication techniques, and characterization methods of bulk nanobubbles in biomedicine.
• To identify limitations in current nanobubble generation methods, specifically concerning concentration and polydispersity.
• To explore the potential of microfluidics for improving nanobubble quality and expanding biomedical applications.

Main Methods:

• Compilation and summarization of existing literature on bulk nanobubbles in biomedicine.
• Analysis of current state-of-the-art fabrication and characterization techniques.
• Proposal of microfluidic strategies for enhanced nanobubble generation and quality control.

Main Results:

• Current nanobubble generation methods often lack the high concentration and low polydispersity required for specific biomedical applications.
• Microfluidics, with its precision and control, has not been extensively explored for nanobubble generation.
• Microfluidics presents a potential solution to overcome current limitations in nanobubble production quality.

Conclusions:

• Microfluidics can significantly improve the quality of bulk nanobubble populations for biomedical use.
• Leveraging microfluidic technologies, such as organ-on-a-chip platforms, can enhance research and development of biomedical nanobubbles.
• Further investigation into microfluidic-based nanobubble generation is crucial for advancing clinical applications.