Laser-induced nanobubbles safely ablate vitreous opacities in vivo

Abstract

In myopia, diabetes and aging, fibrous vitreous liquefaction and degeneration is associated with the formation of opacities within the vitreous body that cast shadows on the retina, appearing as 'floaters' to the patient. Vitreous opacities degrade contrast sensitivity function and can cause significant impairment in vision-related quality-of-life. This study introduces 'nanobubble ablation' for safe destruction of vitreous opacities. Following intravitreal injection, hyaluronic acid coated gold nanoparticles and indocyanine green, which is widely used as a dye in vitreoretinal surgery, spontaneously accumulate on collagenous vitreous opacities in the eyes of rabbits. Applying nanosecond laser pulses generates vapor nanobubbles which mechanically destroy the opacities in rabbit eyes and in patients specimens. Nanobubble ablation might offer a safe and efficient treatment to millions of patients suffering from debilitating vitreous opacities and paves the way for a highly safe use of pulsed lasers in the posterior segment of the eye.

A lipid nanoparticle platform for mRNA delivery through repurposing of cationic amphiphilic drugs

“…Given the high mRNA delivery efficiency of CADosomes in PBCECs, we next aimed to investigate mRNA delivery in an in vivo rabbit eye model [ [62] , [63] , [64] ]. Many ophthalmic diseases, such as trauma and dry eyes, are due to malfunctions at the level of the cornea, leading to severe visual impairment.…”

“…7 D) and a Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP Nick End Labeling (TUNEL) assay (Fig. S8B) indicated that tissue morphology remained intact [ 62 ]. To conclude, this proof-of-concept in vivo data showed the potential of mRNA CADosomes for local nucleic acid delivery towards the cornea.…”

Diffuse interface modeling of laser-induced nano-/micro-cavitation bubbles

“…Bubble implosion comprises bubble topological changes, shock wave emissions, phase transition through supercritical states 1 , and intense pressure and temperature peaks, respectively 2 . Although such effects are traditionally considered to be responsible for damage on material surfaces [3][4][5][6] , cavitation is also exploited in several applications, many of which are in the field of biomedicine, such as drug delivery 7,8 , kidney stones fragmentation 9 , ophthalmic microsurgery 10,11 , eye floaters treatment 12 , and in the field of botany 13,14 . The trend, especially in biomedicine, is to push the technological limit towards the nanoscale.…”

Shape dependent protein induced stabilization of gold nanoparticles: from protein corona perspective.

“…[7,8] As such, GNPs have the potential for extensive medical applications in diagnosis and treatment. In pre-clinical settings, the use of GNPs includes point-of-care diagnostics [9,10] (lateral flow assays such as pregnancy tests and rapid COVID-19 tests), in vivo imaging [11,12] (photoacoustic and computerised tomography), and therapeutics [13][14][15] (photothermal therapy, radiotherapy, catalytic therapy, and drug delivery). Although GNPs treatment designs and applications are rapidly developing with some having reached clinical trials, [16][17][18] none has yet been approved for clinical use primarily because it is hard to predict the changes that nanoparticles undergo and how they behave in complex biological systems.…”