Elucidation of Microbubble Collapse Behavior and Its Application to Vitality

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25350834
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Applied health science
• Research Institution: Utsunomiya University (2015); Akita University (2013-2014)
• Principal Investigator: Hasegawa Hiroaki 宇都宮大学, 工学(系)研究科(研究院), 教授 (90344770)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): Uemura Sachiko 秋田大学, 大学院医学研究科, 講師 (40271829) ; Natsui Miyuki 秋田大学, 医学部, 助教 (60227527)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: マイクロバブル / ゼータ電位 / 気泡収縮 / 圧壊 / 動物実験 / 気力

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Microbubbles are very small air bubbles with diameter on the order of less than several tens of microns and have properties different from those of property from the small bubbles from the chemical and physical viewpoints. A crucial characteristic of the microbubble is that they are electrically negative charged (ζ-potential) on their surface. In the present study, it was confirmed that the pattern of shrinkage behavior can be classified as three types. We concluded that the shrinkage behavior of microbubbles was strongly affected by the ζ-potential of microbubbles.
Furthermore, the antidepressant effect using the microbubbles was evaluated by experiments on animals. The restoration of vitality as antidepressant effects was investigated in the mouse forced swimming test and estimated using globopentaosylceramide (GPC), which is the biochemical marker of vitality. Result of in this study, the GPC increased after microbubble bathing in contrast to the bathing with no microbubbles.

Free Research Field

流体工学