Preclinical Acute Toxicology Study of Surfactant-Stabilized Ultrasound Contrast Agents in Adult Rats

Gas-filled microbubbles are used as contrast agents in diagnostic ultrasound imaging. A preclinical, acute toxicity study of 2 surfactant-stabilized ultrasound contrast agents (ST68 and ST44) was conducted. Subjects were 104 Sprague-Dawley rats (experimental doses, 0.1, 0.2, 0.8, and 1.0 mL/kg; control, 1.0 mL/kg saline) that were studied for 14 days after contrast; clinical signs, weight, blood, and urine were evaluated. Histopathology was performed following euthanasia. Of the 40 animals receiving ST44, 4 died prematurely and a dose dependency was demonstrated ( P = .011), whereas in the ST68 groups only 1 death occurred (no dose dependency; P = .48). Only the weight of rats injected with ST44 varied significantly ( P = .0003). This dependency was also found for 3 of 5 urine parameters and 4 of 36 blood parameters ( P < .05). For ST68, only 1 urine parameter showed significance ( P < .0001). Giant cell infiltration in the lungs was significantly higher than controls in the ST44 0.1 mL/kg and the ST68 0.8-1.0 mL/kg groups ( P < .01). It is concluded that the prudent choice for future nonrodent, toxicology studies and potentially for human clinical trials is ST68 (given the deaths in the ST44 groups).