Possible Expansion of Blood Vessels by Means of the Electrostrictive Effect

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The manuscript is about expansion of blood vessels by means of the electrostriction effect which is desired in medical sciences e.g. treating brain cancer cells.

Manuscript is very well written and suitable for publishing in Symmetry.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer:

Many thanks for your positive report!

Reviewer 2 Report

Herein, the author has suggested and explained the possible use of the electrostrictive effect using short-pulsed lasers to increase the diameter of the blood vessel for the delivery of the drug. The author has detailed the mechanism and calculations behind the possible effect. The only minor revision required is adding the conclusion section with a brief conclusion. 

 

Author Response

Dear Reviewer:

Many thanks for your positive report. In the revised version, I have outlined the Conclusion section somewhat, as recommended, and added a remark about possible future developments of the idea.

Reviewer 3 Report

Summary:

In the manuscript, the author reported the calculations that the electrostrictive effect might cause blood vessel expansion. The blood-brain barrier presents a significant challenge in transporting medication to the brain. While ultrasound with microbubbles has shown promise, another method of enlarging arteries is proposed through internal strong, ultrashort, and repetitive laser pulses. This approach utilizes the electrostrictive pressure produced by these pulses to create a hydrodynamical bouncing flow and outward impulse on the vessel wall. While promising results have been calculated, further experimental work is needed to determine the practicality of this method for medical applications. The theory presented is not exclusive to medical applications and is based on a general physical perspective. A minor revision is recommended, and some comments are provided for the authors to improve the quality of the article. Some problems still need to be addressed before potential acceptance in this journal.

 

Comment 1:

In Lines 33-43: The author mentioned that the research was conducted in the context of breaching the blood-brain barrier (BBB). It is suggested that some descriptions of the BBB could be added to make the background more complete. For example, the composition, main functions, and mechanisms of the BBB (e.g., tight connection, tightness, and activator restriction). This should make the application scenarios clearer to readers not in the field, although this article has only done theoretical calculations.

In addition to the theoretical calculation and “Acoustic Cluster Therapy” (ACT) proposed in this article, have other methods (e.g., microrobot, biosensor, magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound) been proposed to solve the enlargement problem?

Some related studies are suggested to be included and discussed:

1.      Liu, Dan, et al. "Magnetically driven soft continuum microrobot for intravascular operations in microscale." Cyborg and Bionic Systems 2022 (2022).

2.      Song, P., Fu, H., Wang, Y., Chen, C., Ou, P., Rashid, R. T., ... & Liu, X. (2021). A microfluidic field-effect transistor biosensor with rolled-up indium nitride microtubes. Biosensors and Bioelectronics, 190, 113264.

3.      Meng, Ying, et al. "Blood–brain barrier opening of the default mode network in Alzheimer’s disease with magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound." Brain 146.3 (2023): 865-872.

 

Comment 2:

In Lines 169-177: The author mentioned that “our main interest is the small arteries”. Arteries are usually between 0.1 and 1 cm in diameter, while coronary arteries (blood vessels inside the heart) are about 0.05 to 0.2 cm. Arteries with a diameter between 0.3 mm and 1mm are called small arteries. Although this article does not cover the experimental part, the calculations cover real-world application scenarios and solve some problems. Then whether this main interest is related to it, it is suggested to elaborate on the correlation further.

 

Comment 3:

 

Although the author reported that this article is from a general physical point of view, not necessarily connected to medical applications, the calculation does offer a possibility. And it is suggested to add future perspectives on practical applications to enrich it.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer:

Many thanks for your constructive remarks. You suggested me to give a more broad background of earlier approaches within this branch of biotechnology. I agree completely in this, and have now supplied almost one page (page 3) of discussion, containing the three references you mentioned  with short discussions  of each of them, and also a new reference  [4] containing a useful  review of the BBB. The references [4-7] are thus new.

I have expanded also the Conclusion section somewhat, adding at the end some  directions of further developments of the idea. I think that experimental investigations could be made here, preferably at larger dimensions than those used in my biological example. Such investigations would also be useful in testing heating issues in the fluid.