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The incidence of malignant tumors is rising rapidly and tends to be in the younger, which has been one of the most important factors endangering the safety of human life. Ultrasound micro/nanobubbles, as a noninvasive and highly specific antitumor strategy, can reach and destroy tumor tissue through their effects of cavitation and acoustic perforation under the guidance of ultrasound. Meanwhile, micro/nanobubbles are now used as a novel drug carrier, releasing drugs at a target region, especially on the prospects of biomaterial-modified micro/nanobubbles as a dual modality for drug delivery and therapeutic monitoring. Successful evaluation of the sonoporation mechanism(s), ultrasound parameters, drug type, and dose will need to be addressed before translating this technology for clinical use. Therefore, this paper collects the literature on the experimental and clinical studies of ultrasound biomaterial-modified micro/nanobubbles therapy in vitro and in vivo in recent years., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

The present study investigated the effects of chikusetsu saponin Ⅳa(CHS Ⅳa) on isoproterenol(ISO)-induced myocardial hypertrophy in rats and explored the underlying molecular mechanism. ISO was applied to establish a rat model of myocardial hypertrophy, and CHS Ⅳa(5 and 15 mg·kg~(-1)·d~(-1)) was used for intervention. The tail artery blood pressure was measured. Cardiac ultrasound examination was performed. The ratio of heart weight to body weight(HW/BW) was calculated. Morphological changes in the myocardial tissue were observed by HE staining. Collagen deposition in the myocardial tissue was observed by Masson staining. The mRNA expression of myocardial hypertrophy indicators(ANP and BNP), autophagy-related genes(Atg5, P62 and beclin1), and miR199 a-5 p was detected by qRT-PCR. Atg5 protein expression was detected by Western blot. The results showed that the model group exhibited increased tail artery blood pressure and HW/BW ratio, thickened left ventricular myocardium, enlarged myocardial cells, disordered myocardial fibers with widened interstitium, and a large amount of collagen aggregating around the extracellular matrix and blood vessels. ANP and BNP were largely expressed. Moreover, P62 expression was up-regulated, while beclin1 expression was down-regulated. After intervention by CHS Ⅳa at different doses, myocardial hypertrophy was ameliorated and autophagy activity in the myocardial tissue was enhanced. Meanwhile, miR199 a-5 p expression declined and Atg5 expression increased. As predicted by bioinformatics, Atg5 was a target gene of miR199 a-5 p. CHS Ⅳa was capable of preventing myocardial hypertrophy by regulating autophagy of myocardial cells through the miR-199 a-5 p/Atg5 signaling pathway.

B. pilosa has long been purported to have antidiabetes activity, but despite the advancement in phytochemistry and animal models of diabetes, no human clinical trials have been conducted to date. Here, we evaluated the effect of a B. pilosa formulation on fasting blood glucose (FBG), fasting serum insulin, and glycosylated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) in diabetic subjects. The B. pilosa formulation reduced the level of FBG and HbA1c in diabetics but increased fasting serum insulin in healthy subjects. Moreover, combination of B. pilosa formulation with antidiabetic drugs had better glycemic control in diabetics. The homeostatic model assessment (HOMA) data suggested that the antidiabetic activity of this formulation was via improvement of β-cell function. We also tested the safety of the B. pilosa formulation in healthy subjects and observed no obvious side effects. We conclude that B. pilosa has potential as an antidiabetes treatment.