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High intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is generally thought to interact with biological tissues in two ways: hyperthermia (heat) and acoustic cavitation. Pulsed mode HIFU has recently been demonstrated to increase the efficacy of a variety of drug therapies. Generally, it is presumed that the treatment acts to temporarily increase the permeability of the tissue to the therapeutic agent, however, the precise mechanism remains in dispute. In this paper, we present evidence precluding hyperthermia as a principal mechanism for enhancing delivery, using a quantitative analysis of systemically administered fluorescent nanoparticles delivered to muscle in the flanks of mice. Comparisons were carried out on the degree of enhancement between an equivalent heat treatment, delivered without ultrasound, and that of the pulsed-HIFU itself. In the murine calf muscle, pulsed-HIFU treatment resulted in a significant increase in distribution of 200 nm particles (p<0.016, N=6), while the equivalent thermal dose showed no significant increase. Additional studies using this tissue/ agent model also demonstrated that the pulsed HIFU enhancing effects persist for more than 24 hours, which is longer than that of hyperthermia and acoustic cavitation, and offers the possibility of a novel third mechanism for mediating delivery.

We have modeled, by finite element analysis, the process of heating of a spherical gold nanoparticle by nanosecond laser pulses and of heat transfer between the particle and the surrounding medium, with no mass transfer. In our analysis, we have included thermal conductivity changes, vapor formation, and changes of the dielectric properties as a function of temperature. We have shown that such changes significantly affect the temperature reached by the particle and surrounding microenvironment and therefore the thermal and dielectric properties of the medium need to be known for a correct determination of the temperature elevation. We have shown that for sufficiently low intensity and long pulses, it is possible to establish a quasi-steady temperature profile in the medium with no vapor formation. As the intensity is increased, a phase-change with vapor formation takes place around the gold nanoparticle. As phase-transition starts, an additional increase in the intensity does not significantly increase the temperature of the gold nanoparticle and surrounding environment. The temperature starts to rise again above a given intensity threshold which is particle and environment dependent. The aim of this study is to provide useful insights for the development of molecular targeting of gold nanoparticles for applications such as remote drug release of therapeutics and photothermal cancer therapy.