Ultrasonic High-Resolution Imaging and Acoustic Tweezers Using Ultrahigh Frequency Transducer: Integrative Single-Cell Analysis

• Published in: Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 23; no. 4; p. 1916
• Main Authors: Jung, Hayong, Shung, K Kirk, Lim, Hae Gyun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01-02-2023; MDPI
• Subjects: acoustic tweezer; Acoustics; B-mode imaging; Biomedical engineering; Cells; Diagnostic Imaging; Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid; Experiments; Human tissues; Humans; Mechanical properties; Mechanotransduction, Cellular; Morphology; Power; Propagation; Radiation; Single-Cell Analysis; single-cell imaging; Technology application; Transducers; Ultrahigh frequencies; ultrahigh frequency transducer; Ultrasonic imaging; Ultrasonics; ultrasound; Ultrasound imaging; United States > US; Grand Island New York; B-mode imaging; ultrahigh frequency transducer; single-cell imaging; ultrasound; acoustic tweezer
• ISSN: 1424-8220; 1424-8220
• DOI: 10.3390/s23041916

Ultrasound imaging is a highly valuable tool in imaging human tissues due to its non-invasive and easily accessible nature. Despite advances in the field of ultrasound research, conventional transducers with frequencies lower than 20 MHz face limitations in resolution for cellular applications. To address this challenge, we employed ultrahigh frequency (UHF) transducers and demonstrated their potential applications in the field of biomedical engineering, specifically for cell imaging and acoustic tweezers. The lateral resolution achieved with a 110 MHz UHF transducer was 20 μm, and 6.5 μm with a 410 MHz transducer, which is capable of imaging single cells. The results of our experiments demonstrated the successful imaging of a single PC-3 cell and a 15 μm bead using an acoustic scanning microscope equipped with UHF transducers. Additionally, the dual-mode multifunctional UHF transducer was used to trap and manipulate single cells and beads, highlighting its potential for single-cell studies in areas such as cell deformability and mechanotransduction.