Paper
9 February 2012 The use of two-photon microscopy to study the biological effects of focused ultrasound on the brain
Alison Burgess, Eunice E. Cho, Leila Shaffaf, Tam Nhan, Charissa Poon, Kullervo Hynynen
Author Affiliations +
Abstract
Focused ultrasound (FUS) has been used to successfully disrupt the blood-brain barrier (BBB), aiding in the delivery of therapeutic agents to the brain and leading to improvements in disease pathology. Although significant progress has been made in the development of FUS technology, there is still a lack of understanding of the biophysical mechanisms of the BBB disruption and the microscopic effects of this disruption on brain cells. In this study, we combine a custom built ultrasound transducer with two-photon microscopy to conduct real time monitoring of BBB disruption in vivo. We have manufactured and tested a single element piezoelectric transducer with frequencies ranging from 1.15 to 1.30 MHz. Sonications were performed using 0.07-0.25 MPa estimated in situ pressure, 10 ms pulses, 1 Hz pulse repetition frequency for a total duration of 120 s in the presence of microbubbles. BBB disruption was observed through a cranial window created in the rat skull after intravenous injection of dextran conjugated- Texas Red (MW: 10,000 - 70,000 Da). Using this experimental setup, we have observed and characterized 3 different leakage patterns following BBB disruption. Our results indicate that varying the acoustic power leading to in situ pressure changes, may allow us to control the mechanism of BBB disruption. Furthermore, we have labelled astrocytes in vivo in order to visualize the effects of FUS on this cell population. Combination of our custom transducers with two-photon microscopy will allow significant advancement in allow significant advancement in the understanding of the mechanisms and cellular effects of FUS-induced BBB disruption.
© (2012) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Alison Burgess, Eunice E. Cho, Leila Shaffaf, Tam Nhan, Charissa Poon, and Kullervo Hynynen "The use of two-photon microscopy to study the biological effects of focused ultrasound on the brain", Proc. SPIE 8226, Multiphoton Microscopy in the Biomedical Sciences XII, 822642 (9 February 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.908826
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Cited by 6 scholarly publications.
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KEYWORDS
Blood brain barrier

Brain

Two photon excitation microscopy

Transducers

Ultrasonography

In vivo imaging

Acoustics

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