Professor Vesna Zderic's Therapeutic Ultrasound Laboratory conducts modeling and experimental work in the area of ultrasound therapy. Current projects include application of ultrasound to enhance ocular and nail drug delivery, focused ultrasound treatment of tumors, studies of safety of therapeutic ultrasound applications, and ultrasound application for functional modification of cells such as pancreatic beta cells.
Our objective has been to determine combinations of ultrasound parameters that can provide optimal delivery of different drugs into the eye, study mechanisms of ultrasound action, and determine long-term safety of this application. We showed previously that exposing cornea to therapeutic ultrasound can lead to up to 10 times more delivery of a drug-mimicking compound into the eye, with only minimal alterations in the corneal structure (Zderic et al. 2004). Subsequently, we continued to work on drug delivery problems with significant clinical relevance, such as promoting delivery of antibiotics and steroids for treatment of eye inflammations through an NIH funded project (Nabili et al. 2013, Nabili et al. 2014). This work indicated that ultrasound can be effective and safe for delivery of steroids into the eye in vivo. Current work focuses on modeling of temperature increases in the eye during ultrasound application, studies of the effectiveness of delivery of anti-parasitic drugs into the eye, and delivery of macromolecules via transscleral route for treatment of macular degeneration. This work is expected to eventually lead to development of an inexpensive, quick and non-invasive ultrasound method that can be applied in an outpatient clinic to allow targeted delivery of medications into diseased eye tissues for treatment of different diseases including infections and retinopathies.
Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a complex metabolic disease that has reached epidemic proportions. Pharmacological management routinely requires complex therapy with multiple medications, and loses its effectiveness over time. Thus, new modes of therapy are needed that will target directly the underlying causes of abnormal glucose metabolism. The objective of our study is to explore a novel, non-pharmacological approach that utilizes the application of ultrasound energy to safely augment insulin release from pancreatic beta cells.
It is estimated that up to 32 million Americans are suffering from onychomycosis. This is a fungal nail disorder that is characterized by thick and yellow nails, can be extremely painful, and has also been documented to lead to many psychosocial issues. In onychomycosis, the fungus lives in the nail bed. Although there are several good antifungal drugs available for treatment, most are applied to the top of the nail and since the nail has poor permeability they do not reach the nail bed reliably and, therefore, are not very effective in treating the fungus. We have been working on the application of low intensity ultrasound to promote permeability of antifungal drugs into the nail. Our preliminary tests indicated that ultrasound increases permeability of the nail by 50% for a drug mimicking compound (Abadi and Zderic 2011). In our current work, we are planning to use antifungal nail polish that is prescribed to patients suffering from onychomycosis and see the effectiveness of combining it with ultrasound excitation in order to improve permeation. People who would benefit the most from this treatment are those in their 60s or older, particularly those who suffer from diabetes, poor circulation, immunosuppressive diseases, or have cancer that is being treated with radiation.
