A Review of the Combination Therapy of Low Frequency Ultrasound with Antibiotics

Figure 2

Possible mechanisms for the improvement of intermittent watt-level ultrasonication on vancomycin release from acrylic cement. (a) No ultrasonication. A large number of drug grains resided in the craters and the bottoms of pores through adhering to cement matrix, only a little fraction accessed the external PBS. (b) Ultrasonication is on, and the detaching force by microstreams produced vortex at the drug-cement interface during the ultrasonication period. Large quantities of drug grains were desorbed. However, the pushing force, another force by microstreams, hampered the drug from outward diffusion through the channels or craters into the external PBS. (c) Pushing force disappeared in the pause period for intermittent ultrasonication. The desorbed grains diffuse readily out of the craters and pores through the concentration gradient, which was built up during the ultrasonication period [10].

(a)

(b)

(c)