Key result
Medical ultrasound successfully visualizes magnetic ferrogels, with higher nanoparticle concentrations yielding stronger echo signals.
Ferrogels can be effectively visualized using medical ultrasound, with echo signal amplitude increasing with magnetic nanoparticle concentration, suggesting utility in biomedical applications like drug delivery and tissue substitution.
May enable ultrasound-guided ferrogel applications in preclinical models; leaves open human translation pending prospective studies.
Ferrogels (FG) are magnetic composites that are widely used in the area of biomedical engineering and biosensing. In this work, ferrogels with different concentrations of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) were synthesized by the radical polymerization of acrylamide in stabilized aqueous ferrofluid. FG samples were prepared in various shapes that are suitable for different characterization techniques. Thin cylindrical samples were used to simulate the case of targeted drug delivery test through blood vessels. Samples of larger size that were in the shape of cylindrical plates were used for the evaluation of the FG applicability as substitutes for damaged structures, such as bone or cartilage tissues. Regardless of the shape of the samples and the conditions of their location, the boundaries of FG were confidently visualized over the entire range of concentrations of MNPs while using medical ultrasound. The amplitude of the reflected echo signal was higher for the higher concentration of MNPs in the gel. This result was not related to the influence of the MNPs on the intensity of the reflected echo signal directly, since the wavelength of the ultrasonic effect used is much larger than the particle size. Qualitative theoretical model for the understanding of the experimental results was proposed while taking into account the concept that at the acoustic oscillations of the hydrogel, the macromolecular net, and water in the gel porous structure experience the viscous Stocks-like interaction.
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Blyakhman et al. (2019) studied this question. Ferrogels with magnetic nanoparticles was evaluated on Visualization using medical ultrasound and amplitude of reflected echo signal. Ferrogels with varying concentrations of magnetic nanoparticles were confidently visualized using medical ultrasound, with higher nanoparticle concentrations yielding higher reflected echo signal amplitudes.
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