An effect of surface tension on acoustic properties of ultrasound contrast agent: Molecular dynamics simulation

抄録

Phospholipid-encapsulated microbubbles are termed ultrasound contrast agents (UCAs) in medical settings. The applications of UCAs such as ultrasonography and drug delivery use the oscillation of UCAs under ultrasound as mechanism. Understanding the surface tension of the encapsulating phospholipid shell is a crucial step to control not only the oscillation of UCAs but also the ultrasound propagation. The previous models surface tension of phospholipid shell are proposed based on relatively slow tensile and compressive tests of phospholipid monolayer. In this presentation, we performed molecular dynamics simulation (MD) and simulated the deformation of a small part of shell of oscillating bubble under ultrasound. We calculated the surface tension and investigated its response to deformation.