RESUMEN

Encapsulated microbubbles (MBs) serve as endovascular agents in a wide range of medical ultrasound applications. The oscillatory response of these agents to ultrasonic excitation is determined by MB size, gas content, viscoelastic shell properties and geometrical constraints. The viscoelastic parameters of the MB capsule vary during an oscillation cycle and change irreversibly upon shell rupture. The latter results in marked stress changes on the endothelium of capillary blood vessels due to altered MB dynamics. Mechanical effects on microvessels are crucial for safety and efficacy in applications such as focused ultrasound-mediated blood-brain barrier (BBB) opening. Since direct in vivo quantification of vascular stresses is currently not achievable, computational modelling has established itself as an alternative. We have developed a novel computational framework combining fluid-structure coupling and interface tracking to model the nonlinear dynamics of an encapsulated MB in constrained environments. This framework is used to investigate the mechanical stresses at the endothelium resulting from MB shell rupture in three microvessel setups of increasing levels of geometric detail. All configurations predict substantial elevation of up to 150 % for peak wall shear stress upon MB breakup, whereas global peak transmural pressure levels remain unaltered. The presence of red blood cells causes confinement of pressure and shear gradients to the proximity of the MB, and the introduction of endothelial texture creates local modulations of shear stress levels. With regard to safety assessments, the mechanical impact of MB breakup is shown to be more important than taking into account individual red blood cells and endothelial texture. The latter two may prove to be relevant to the actual, complex process of BBB opening induced by MB oscillations.

Asunto(s)

Microburbujas , Modelos Biológicos , Barrera Hematoencefálica , Capilares/diagnóstico por imagen , Capilares/fisiopatología , Endotelio/diagnóstico por imagen , Endotelio/fisiopatología , Humanos , Presión , Estrés Mecánico , Ultrasonografía

RESUMEN

Thorough analyses of the photo- and devicephysics of poly-7-tert-butyl-1,3-pyrenylene (PPyr) by the means of absorption and photoluminescence emission, time resolved photoluminescence and photoinduced absorption spectroscopy as well as organic light emitting devices (OLEDs) are presented in this contribution. Thereby we find that this novel class of polymers shows deep blue light emission as required for OLEDs and does not exhibit excimer or aggregate emission when processed from solvents with low polarity. Moreover the decay dynamics of the compound is found to be comparable to that of well blue emitting conjugated polymers such as polyfluorene. OLEDs built in an improved device assembly show stable bright blue emission for the PPyr homopolymer and further a considerable efficiency enhancement can be demonstrated using a triphenylamine(TPA)/pyrene copolymer.

RESUMEN

We present a novel core-shell-surface multifunctional structure for dendrimers using a blue fluorescent pyrene core with triphenylene dendrons and triphenylamine surface groups. We find efficient excitation energy transfer from the triphenylene shell to the pyrene core, substantially enhancing the quantum yield in solution and the solid state (4-fold) compared to dendrimers without a core emitter, while TPA groups facilitate the hole capturing and injection ability in the device applications. With a luminance of up to 1400 cd/m(2), a saturated blue emission CIE(xy) = (0.15, 0.17) and high operational stability, these dendrimers belong to the best reported fluorescence-based blue-emitting organic molecules.