Acoustic Field Enabled Polymeric Nanoparticle Deposition onto Vessel Walls for Enhanced Drug Delivery

Polymeric nanoparticles (NPs) are promising tools for transporting and localizing therapeutics with intravenous delivery. Targeting these vehicles to specific tissue sites is challenging. Here, we investigate the use of low-frequency acoustic fields to drive polymeric NPs from circulating blood onto blood vessel walls by using concepts of elastic material deformation. By varying the shear flow rate and duration of acoustic field exposure, we achieved a 1000-fold increase in NP fluorescence intensity on vascular tissue compared with no acoustic field at a flow rate of 2 m/min. Interestingly, we found that acoustic-field-enhanced NP deposition is independent of NP surface chemistry. We also showcase a 100-fold increase in the area of fluorescence detected following NP delivery to an intact, ex vivo human vessel wall when a localized acoustic field is applied. This work suggests that local administration of acoustic fields can control polymeric NP biodistribution after intravenous delivery and enhance the treatment of tissue-specific pathologies.