Modeling the interaction of tandem bubbles for biomedical applications

Abstract

Recent experiments, motivated by ultrasound-mediated drug and gene delivery, have utilized laser-generated tandem microbubbles to produce directional and targeted membrane poration of individual cells in microfluidic systems [Sankin et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 078101 (2010)]. Two models describing the dynamics of coupled bubbles between parallel plates have been applied to understand these observations. The first approach is based on the Boundary Element Method in both 2D and 3D coordinate systems for bubbles bounded by finite rigid plates. Deformation of the bubble surfaces is taken into account, capturing phenomena such as bubble jetting and fragmentation [Hsiao et al., Ultrasound Med. Biol. 36, 2065-2079 (2010)]. The second approach is semi-analytic, accounts for fluid compressibility and elasticity of the plates, but is limited to spherical bubble pulsation [Hay et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 129, 2477(A) (2011)]. Observations of tandem bubble interaction with adjacent biological cells and their potent...