Non-contact acoustic radiation force impulse microscopy via photoacoustic detection for probing breast cancer cell mechanics

Jae Youn Hwang; Bong Jin Kang; Changyang Lee; Hyung Ham Kim; Jinhyoung Park; Qifa Zhou; K Kirk Shung

doi:10.1364/BOE.6.000011

Non-contact acoustic radiation force impulse microscopy via photoacoustic detection for probing breast cancer cell mechanics

Biomed Opt Express. 2014 Dec 3;6(1):11-22. doi: 10.1364/BOE.6.000011. eCollection 2015 Jan 1.

Authors

Jae Youn Hwang¹, Bong Jin Kang², Changyang Lee², Hyung Ham Kim², Jinhyoung Park³, Qifa Zhou⁴, K Kirk Shung²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Information and Communication Engineering, Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science & Technology, Daegu, South Korea.
² Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.
³ Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA ; qifazhou@usc.edu.
⁴ Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA ; Co-corresponding authors ; qifazhou@usc.edu.

Abstract

We demonstrate a novel non-contact method: acoustic radiation force impulse microscopy via photoacoustic detection (PA-ARFI), capable of probing cell mechanics. A 30 MHz lithium niobate ultrasound transducer is utilized for both detection of phatoacoustic signals and generation of acoustic radiation force. To track cell membrane displacements by acoustic radiation force, functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes are attached to cell membrane. Using the developed microscopy evaluated with agar phantoms, the mechanics of highly- and weakly-metastatic breast cancer cells are quantified. These results clearly show that the PA-ARFI microscopy may serve as a novel tool to probe mechanics of single breast cancer cells.

Keywords: (170.0180) Microscopy; (170.5120) Photoacoustic imaging; (170.7170) Ultrasound.

Abstract

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