Improving the cardio protective effect of aFGF in ischemic myocardium with ultrasound-mediated cavitation of heparin modified microbubbles: preliminary experiment

Ultrasound (US)-mediated cavitation of microbubbles has evolved into a new tool for organ-specific gene and drug delivery. This paper was to investigate the feasibility of acidic fibroblast growth factor (aFGF) intravenous delivery to the ischemic myocardium of rats by ultrasonic microbubbles modified with heparin. Heparin modified microbubbles (HMB) were prepared by the freeze-dried method. Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) model was established and the cardio protective effect of the aFGF combing with HMB (aFGF-HMB) under US-mediated cavitation technique was investigated. aFGF-HMB combined with US-mediated cavitation technique was examined by ECG. Ejection fraction (EF), fractional shortening (FS) and left ventricular diastolic diameter (LVDd) were measured to monitor the improvement of global myocardial contractile function. Myocardial tissue was stained with hematoxylin and eosine (HE) to evaluate the elaborate general morphology of the ischemic myocardium. From morphologic observation and echocardiography in rat heart, aFGF-HMB had suitable size distribution, physical stability and good acoustic resonance function. From AMI rat experiments, aFGF-HMB under US-mediated cavitation technique exerted aFGF cardio protective effect in ischemic myocardium. From histological evaluation, US-mediated cavitation of aFGF-HMB showed improvement of myocardial ischemia. With the visual imaging and US-triggered drug release advantages, US-mediated cavitation of aFGF-HMB might be developed as a novel technique for targeting delivery of aFGF into ischemic myocardium.