Fig. 2

Fabrication and characterization of CMB (A) Schematic illustration of the fabrication process of CMBs. (B-C) Morphology of CMBs observed by optical microscopy (bar, 50 μm) and TEM (bar, 500 nm), showing that the CMBs were spherized, uniform in size and well distributed. (D) Size distribution of CMBs. (E-F) Changes in the concentration and mean diameter of CMBs at different time points. Values are the mean ± SEM. Significant differences were determined by Student’s t test. N = 5/group. * P < 0.05 vs. 0 h. (G) NMB and CMB targeted to HUVECs observed under an optical microscope. Bar, 20 μm. (H) Quantitative evaluation of microbubbles targeted to HUVECs using Image Plus software. Values are the mean ± SEM. Significant differences were determined by Student’s t test. N = 5/group. * P < 0.05 vs. NMB. (I) In vitro imaging of MBs at different concentrations. (J) Quantitative analysis showed that the contrast signal increased with increasing MB concentration. (K-L) In vivo imaging of the heart to assess infarcted myocardial perfusion and the imaging capability of CMBs. Bar, 5 mm