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Quantitative Ultrasound in Soft Tissues pp 315–341Cite as

Acoustic Microscopy of Cells

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Abstract

Acoustic microscopy has proven to be a versatile biological tool since it was first developed nearly 40 years ago. It can be used to create ultrasound images with a resolution that approach conventional optical microscopy, or provide quantitative data about the mechanical properties of the material being investigated. This chapter focuses on acoustic microscopy methods to investigate how single cells change during biological processes such as mitosis and chemotherapy-induced apoptosis. Using ultrasound frequencies at 375 MHz, various properties of cells (such as the thickness, sound speed, acoustic impedance, density, bulk modulus and attenuation) were calculated during these biological processes. Significant differences in these properties were observed between cells in their normal resting state and late-stage apoptosis. C-scan and B-scan imaging of apoptotic cells using 375 and 1,000 MHz provided information that could not be obtained using other scanning methods. Variations in the ultrasound backscatter were observed over time, which suggests that rapid changes in the ultrasound scattering structures occur within seconds. In contrast, non-apoptotic cells did not show the same activity. Finally, high resolution attenuation imaging of cells using frequencies up to 1.2 GHz clearly showed organelles such as the nucleus, nucleolus and vacuoles. During apoptosis, the nucleus became highly attenuating and was several times more attenuating than the surrounding cytoplasm. In summary, this chapter describes acoustic microscopy methods and techniques for a qualitative and quantitative analysis of biological material.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Maurice Pasternak for his help in data acquisition and signal processing and Arthur Worthington for his help in general laboratory issues. Support and scientific discussions with Drs. Eike Weiss, Robert Lemor and Sebastian Brand are gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Ryerson University, 350 Victoria Street, Toronto, ON, M5B 2K3, Canada

    Michael C. Kolios & Eric M. Strohm

  2. Department of Radiation Oncology, Odette Cancer Centre and Imaging Research, Sunnybrook Research Institute, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, 2075 Bayview Avenue, Toronto, ON, M4N 3M5, Canada

    Gregory J. Czarnota

Authors
  1. Michael C. Kolios
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  2. Eric M. Strohm
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  3. Gregory J. Czarnota
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael C. Kolios .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Biomedical Engineering, Riverside Research Institute F.L. Lizzi Center, New York, New York, USA

    Jonathan Mamou

  2. Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, USA

    Michael L. Oelze

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Kolios, M.C., Strohm, E.M., Czarnota, G.J. (2013). Acoustic Microscopy of Cells. In: Mamou, J., Oelze, M. (eds) Quantitative Ultrasound in Soft Tissues. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6952-6_13

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