Visualization of Human Kidney Embryonic Cells by Acoustic Microscopy

Abstract

The aim of our study is to evaluate the capability of acoustic microscopy with a high frequency transducer for visualization of cells. Human kidney embryonic (HEK293) cells were observed by scanning acoustic microscope (SAM). HEK293 cells cultured on cover glasses were kept in cell culture plates. A transducer with 320 MHz center frequency and a spot size of 4.0 µm was incorporated into SAM. Two-dimensional acoustic images were obtained successfully to identify the morphology and the acoustic properties of HEK293 cells and the acoustic impedance of HEK293 cells was measured as 1.65 ± 0.02 MRayl. The same cells on cover glasses were observed also with inverted microscope. The results in this study indicate that scanning acoustic microscopy can be used for the determination of elastic properties of cells, therefore for cellular mapping and molecular imaging, since it can create very sharp images of HEK293 cells with a high frequency transducer.

Keywords

• Scanning acoustic microscopy,kidney cell,acoustic impedance

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