Abstract
Glioma remains one of the most deadly malignancies, for which efficacy of traditional chemotherapy is often limited due to the blood-tumor barrier (BTB). Thus, the development of a method for enhancing the BTB permeability is highly needed. In this study, we used a nanosecond pulsed laser-induced photomechanical wave (PMW) to enhance the permeability of BTB in a rat intracranial glioma model using C6 cells. A tumor was grown in the both hemispheres, and a solution of Evans blue (EB), as a test drug, was injected into the tail vein. Thereafter, a PMW was applied to one hemisphere through the cranial window and the other hemisphere served as a control. Four hours later, the rat was perfused and intensity distributions of EB fluorescence in the brain were imaged. We examined the optimum PMW pressure for safe and efficient drug delivery by changing the laser fluence, showing that the application of a PMW with a peak pressure of 〜54 MPa enabled efficient, damage-free delivery. On the basis of fluorescence microscopy, we also confirmed that a drug was delivered into targeted cells in the peripheral region of the tumor by using enhanced green fluorescent protein-expressing C6 cells.
