S. Yoshikazu, R. Suzuki, Y. Oda, D. Omata, K. Maruyama
Laboratory of Drug and Gene Delivery Faculty of Pharma-sciences – Tokyo, Japan

Objective: The combination thrombolysis therapy with recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA), microbubbles and ultrasound, was reported higher recanalization ratio in ischemic cerebrovascular disease. Ultrasound and microbubbles vibrate the fibrin net and accelerate thrombolysis. Recently, we developed novel liposomal submicron bubbles (Bubble Liposome (BLs)) containing ultrasound imaging gas, perfluoropropane. In this study, we developed BLs with Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) sequence-containing peptides, which bind to the activated platelet glycoprotein IIb/IIIa complexes. The aim of this study was to examine the enhancing effects in ultrasonic thrombus imaging using these targeted BLs in vitro and in vivo.