Targeted delivery of therapeutic agents to the mouse brain using a stereotactic-guided focused ultrasound device

Zhongtao Hu; Yaoheng Yang; Dezhuang Ye; Si Chen; Yan Gong; Chinwendu Chukwu; Hong Chen

doi:10.1016/j.xpro.2023.102132

Targeted delivery of therapeutic agents to the mouse brain using a stereotactic-guided focused ultrasound device

STAR Protoc. 2023 Feb 23;4(1):102132. doi: 10.1016/j.xpro.2023.102132. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Zhongtao Hu¹, Yaoheng Yang², Dezhuang Ye², Si Chen², Yan Gong², Chinwendu Chukwu², Hong Chen³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, Saint Louis, MO 63130, USA. Electronic address: zhongtaohu@wustl.edu.
² Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, Saint Louis, MO 63130, USA.
³ Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, Saint Louis, MO 63130, USA; Department of Radiation Oncology, Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, MO 63108, USA. Electronic address: hongchen@wustl.edu.

Abstract

Existing protocols of focused ultrasound (FUS) combined with microbubble-mediated blood-brain barrier (BBB) opening (FUS-BBBO) in preclinical research require expensive ultrasound equipment and complex operating procedures. We developed a low-cost, easy-to-use, and precise FUS device for small animal models in preclinical research. Here, we provide a detailed protocol for building the FUS transducer, attaching the transducer to a stereotactic frame for precise brain targeting, applying the integrated FUS device to perform FUS-BBBO in mice, and evaluating the FUS-BBBO outcome. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Hu et al. (2022).¹.

Keywords: Biotechnology and bioengineering; Cancer; Health Sciences; Neuroscience; Physics.