Precise Diagnosis of Tissue Hardening with Nano-Magnetic-Bubble Technology

2023-10-17 01:56:35

Nano-magnetic-bubble schematic diagram

[충청뉴스 이성현 기자] Domestic researchers develop high-performance ultrasound nanocontrast agent to precisely diagnose human tissue hardening

The Institute for Basic Science (IBS) announced that the research team led by Jinwoo Cheon of the Nanomedicine Research Center has developed a new nanotechnology that can diagnose diseases by accurately detecting the hardness of human tissue using ultrasound.

Ultrasound is one of the representative non-invasive medical technologies that can easily look inside human tissue from outside the body. However, the state of tissue hardness cannot be accurately observed, so the development of new technology is urgently needed.

The nanomagnetic-bubble (MGV) developed by the research team is a nanostructure in which magnetic nanoparticles are combined with a gas-filled protein, and acts as a high-performance ultrasound contrast agent through sound wave scattering due to physical properties different from biological tissues.

In particular, nano magnetic bubbles generate sound wave scattering with strong vibration even in a small magnetic field, creating ultrasonic images that are at least 4 to 8 times brighter and more precise than before.

The oscillatory properties of nanomagnetic-bubbles caused by magnetic fields change depending on the strength of the surrounding tissue. Therefore, the hardness of biological tissue, which was difficult to measure with existing ultrasound technology, can be measured with excellent sensitivity in the medically important pressure range (50 Pa – 5 kPa).

In addition, the nano magnetic-bubble surface has been improved to have high biocompatibility, which has the advantage of being able to track changes in hardness of biological tissue for a long period of time without side effects in the body.

The research team succeeded in non-invasively and accurately diagnosing the onset of tissue stiffening and liver fibrosis in living mice using nano-magnetic bubbles.

In addition, by measuring the tissue hardening of organoids (human-like organs) that induced lung fibrosis using nano-magnetic bubbles, they succeeded in observing the onset and progression of lung fibrosis and confirming the effectiveness of the treatment.

Director Cheon Jin-woo said, “Nano-magnetic-bubble technology will become a new medical diagnostic platform that prevents fatal sclerosis in advance,” and added, “It will be possible to identify the relationship between disease occurrence and tissue sclerosis and suggest new drug treatments or treatment methods.” “I look forward to it,” he explained.