Effects of Cavitation Microstreaming on Natural and Model Membrane Systems
Today ultrasound has many industrial and medical uses. Scientists have known for years that in biological subjects as well as other aqueous solutions ultrasonic pressure can be generated, causing major changes or bioeffects in an organism. Scientists know that gas bodies in an acoustic field either oscillate with stability over a long period of time, known as stable cavitation, or they expand and contract sometimes collapsing violently, known as inertial cavitation.
Stable cavitation can generate high velocity fluid flow at the air water interface of the gas body, resulting in shear forces that can damage biological material. It is hypothesized that such a force can damage the cell membrane causing an increased inward or outward flow of molecules across the membrane. It is also recognized that this damage is reversible, meaning that the membrane can be repaired. If this is true, this technology can be used to increase the success rate of various drug delivery treatments.
Our goal is to design and construct a system that can give information regarding the reversible damage to cell membranes caused by microstreaming generated by a stably oscillating gas body. Exposing red blood cells and FITC along with a hydrophobic, porous membrane, we can create stable gas bodies that oscillate in an acoustic field thereby testing our hypothesis. The resulting microstreaming can be used to reversibly damage red blood cells. After exposing our sample to ultrasound waves, we will examine the cells under a flourescent microscope searching for an uptake of flourescent material that was abound in the surrounding solution. Finding such an influx of the flourescent material would allow us to conclude that slight or reversible damage to the somewhat durable red blood cell is possible.
