Development of ultrasound bioprobe for biological imaging.

ABSTRACT

We report the development of an ultrasound bioprobe for in vitro molecular imaging. In this method, the phase of the scattered ultrasound wave is mapped to provide in vitro and intracellular imaging with nanometer-scale resolution under physiological conditions. We demonstrated the technique by successfully imaging a magnetic core in silica core shells and the stiffness image of intracellular fibers in endothelial cells that were stimulated with thrombin. The findings demonstrate a significant advancement in high-resolution ultrasound imaging of biological systems with acoustics under physiological conditions. These will open up various applications in biomedical and molecular imaging with subsurface resolution down to the nanometer scale.