Combination of Sonodynamic and Photodynamic Therapy against Cancer Would Be Effective through Using a Regulated Size of Nanoparticles.

Nanoparticles have been used for many functional materials in nano-sciences and photo-catalyzing surface chemistry. The titanium oxide nanoparticles will be useful for the treatment of tumor by laser and/or ultrasound as the sensitizers in nano-medicine. We have studied the combination therapy of photo- and sono-dynamic therapies in an animal tumor model. Oral-administration of two sensitizers titanium oxide, 0.2%-TiO2 nanoparticles for sono-dynamic and 1 mM 5-aminolevulinic acid for photodynamic therapies have resulted in the best combination therapeutic effects for the cancer treatment. Our light microscopic and Raman spectroscopic studies revealed that the titanium nanoparticles were distributed inside the blood vessel of the cancer tissue (1-3 µm sizes). Among these nanoparticles with a broad size distribution, only particular-sized particles could penetrate through the blood vessel of the cancer tissue, while other particles may only exhibit the side effects in the model mouse. Therefore, it may be necessary to separate the optimum size particles. For this purpose we have separated TiO2 nanoparticles by countercurrent chromatography with a flat coiled column (1.6 mm ID) immersed in an ultrasonic bath (42 KHz). Separation was performed with a two-phase solvent system composed of 1-butanol-acetic acid-water at a volume ratio of 4:1:5 at a flow rate of 0.1 ml/min. Countercurrent chromatographic separation yielded fractions containing particle aggregates at 31 and 4400 nm in diameter.

Transdermal drug delivery using ultrasound-theory, understanding and critical analysis.

This review focuses on a unique transdermal drug delivery enhanced by the action of ultrasound, referred as sonophoresis. Sonophoresis is an active form of transdermal delivery which enhances the transport of permeants, such as drugs through cell membranes as a result of ultrasonic energy. Ultrasonic sound waves cause acoustic cavitation, the resultant effects of which microscopically disrupt the lipid bilayers of the stratum corneum and thereby influencing the influx of permeants. Sonophoresis increases the penetration of various low molecular weight drugs as well as high molecular weight proteins. The objective of this review is to account the role of ultrasound parameters and the associated cavitational effects, gained through a number of investigations, in order to facilitate the understanding of this method.

Spatial study on a multibubble system for sonochemistry by laser-light scattering.

Volumetric oscillation of multiple cavitation bubbles in an ultrasonic standing-wave field is investigated spatially through the intensity measurements of scattered light from bubbles changing the measuring position in the direction of sound propagation. When a thin light sheet finer than half of wavelength of sound is introduced into the cavitation bubbles, at an antinode of sound pressure the scattered light intensity oscillates. The peak-to-peak light intensity corresponds to the number of the bubbles which contribute to the sonochemical reaction because the radius for oscillating bubbles at pressure antinodes is restrictive in a certain range due to the shape instability and the action of Bjerknes force that expels from the antinode bubbles that are larger than the resonant size. The experimental results show that the intensity waveform of oscillating scattered light measured at the side near the sound source is similar to the waveform as seen in a single-bubble experiment. The peak-to-peak light intensity for the scattered light waveform is low at the side near the sound source where the progressive wave is dominant, while at the side near the water surface far from the sound source the intensity is relatively high and has periodic structure corresponding to the periodicity of half wavelength from the standing wave. These tendencies of high intensity near the water surface and the periodicity correspond to the periodic luminescent stripes seen in images of luminescence in an ultrasonic standing wave as reported by Hatanaka et al. [Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 39 (2000) 2962]. The present method of light scattering is promising for evaluating spatial distribution of violently oscillating cavitation bubbles which effect sonochemical reactions.

Effect of particle addition on sonochemical reaction.

Enhancement of chemical reaction with a photocatalyst of titanium dioxide (TiO(2)) by ultrasonic irradiation is studied through the absorbance measurements for liberation of iodine from a KI aqueous solution as an index of oxidation reaction. It is well known as a synergetic effect that the addition of TiO(2) fine particles under UV has an ability to enhance the yield in chemical reaction with OH-radical from hot spot at violent collapse of cavitation bubbles with intense ultrasound. In this study, the absorbance is measured after simultaneous irradiation of ultrasound and UV with the addition of TiO(2) much less than the usual concentration by two orders of content. It is shown that, even in case of quite a little TiO(2) addition where the photocatalytic effect is less, the yield is enhanced obviously in comparison with the summation in yield of independent procedure of ultrasound without TiO(2) and UV with TiO(2). The absorbance-peak deviation to the shorter wavelength implies the generation of titanium peroxide (TiO(3)). The effect of particle addition is due to the chemically activated particle surface on the TiO(2) and probably to the increase in the cavitation bubbles that results in promoting a transfer of OH-radical and other oxidants to bulk liquid region at the collapse.

Sonochemically enhanced adsorption and degradation of methyl orange with activated aluminas.

Removal of Methyl orange (MO), as a model contaminants, in aqueous solution by the simultaneous application of ultrasound with the addition of porous adsorbent powders is reported. Activated alumina powders in acidic form were used as an adsorbent. Results showed that MO could be degraded by ultrasonic irradiation at 130 kHz with the first order rate constant of 8x10(-4) and 5x10(-4) sec(-1), in acidic and basic conditions, respectively, without adsorbents. Adsorption rates of MO by activated alumina mainly depended on the acidity of alumina, the pH of solution and the stirring speed. At pH=4.2 with mechanical stirring without ultrasonic radiation, acidic activated alumina (0.1 g/100 ml) removed MO at about two times more rapidly than ultrasonic irradiation. In the case of simultaneous application of ultrasound irradiation and activated alumina, MO was almost removed from the solution within 10 min, which corresponded to as a rate constant of 5x10(-3) sec(-1). This kind of synergistic enhancement of removal rate with ultrasound and adsorbents should be practically useful for the elimination of contaminants in the water treatment processes. In addition, the effects of pH and coexisting chemicals in the solution were examined for the processes. Although the adsorption process was effective in some selected conditions, ultrasonic degradation was more robust in wider range of pH and coexisting chemicals. Simultaneous application of the two processes can perform complementary.

Dependence of sonoluminescence intensity on the geometrical configuration of a reactor cell.

Dependence of sonoluminescence (SL) intensity on the geometrical configuration of a reactor cell is studied theoretically and experimentally. The model is a rectangular glass cell set in a water-cooling bath. Ultrasound is irradiated from the bottom of bath into the cell. Theoretical analysis of transmitted acoustic energy assuming a plane acoustic wave clarified the influences of distance between the transducer and the cell bottom, thickness of the cell bottom, and water depth in the cell. The theory is examined through intensity measurement of SL emitted in the cell using a photomultiplier tube. Dependence of SL intensity on the above parameters agreed with the theory very well. Distributions of SL are also observed using a high sensitive CCD camera and are compared with optically visualized sound fields to show the relationship between the sound field and the SL.