Activation of microbubbles by low-intensity pulsed ultrasound enhances the cytotoxicity of curcumin involving apoptosis induction and cell motility inhibition in human breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells.

Key Laboratory of Medicinal Resources and Natural Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Ministry of Education, National Engineering Laboratory for Resource Developing of Endangered Chinese Crude Drugs in Northwest of China, College of Life Sciences, Shaanxi Normal University, China. Key Laboratory of Medicinal Resources and Natural Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Ministry of Education, National Engineering Laboratory for Resource Developing of Endangered Chinese Crude Drugs in Northwest of China, College of Life Sciences, Shaanxi Normal University, China. Electronic address: wangxiaobing@snnu.edu.cn. Key Laboratory of Medicinal Resources and Natural Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Ministry of Education, National Engineering Laboratory for Resource Developing of Endangered Chinese Crude Drugs in Northwest of China, College of Life Sciences, Shaanxi Normal University, China. Electronic address: lshaof@snnu.edu.cn.

Ultrasonics sonochemistry. 2016;:26-36
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Abstract

Ultrasound and microbubbles-mediated drug delivery has become a promising strategy to promote drug delivery and its therapeutic efficacy. The aim of this research was to assess the effects of microbubbles (MBs)-combined low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LPUS) on the delivery and cytotoxicity of curcumin (Cur) to human breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells. Under the experimental condition, MBs raised the level of acoustic cavitation and enhanced plasma membrane permeability; and cellular uptake of Cur was notably improved by LPUS-MBs treatment, aggravating Cur-induced MDA-MB-231 cells death. The combined treatment markedly caused more obvious changes of cell morphology, F-actin cytoskeleton damage and cell migration inhibition. Our results demonstrated that combination of MBs and LPUS may be an efficient strategy for improving anti-tumor effect of Cur, suggesting a potential effective method for antineoplastic therapy.