Micro scale hydrodynamic cavitation for thrombolysis: a novel clot-on-a-chip platform

Official URL: https://risc01.sabanciuniv.edu/record=b3395410

Hydrodynamic cavitation (HC) is a physical phenomenon, characterized by the formation, growth, and collapse of bubbles within a moving liquid due to pressure fluctuations. These collapsing bubbles provide high energy. Even though macro scale HC can cause undesired destructive effects, the collapse of micro scale HC bubbles releases highly localized and controllable energy, making it a promising tool for biomedical applications. Thrombosis related diseases such as deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism pose a significant global health issue. Current treatments techniques are limited and might cause serious adverse effects. In this regard, this study presents an investigation of a novel platform called Clot-on-a-Chip related to micro scale HC induced thrombolysis. By utilizing microfluidic system approach, the CoC platform facilitates controlled HC bubble formation and collapse within a confined environment and targeted HC bubbles in a microfluidic device directly at thrombus. In vitro experiments demonstrate the success of the platform in generating HC and effectively inducing thrombolysis. These findings suggest the CoC platform has a considerable promise as a novel treatment approach for undesired blood clot formation.