Effect of acoustic cavitation on platelets in the presence of an echo-contrast agent

✍ Scribed by E.Carr Everbach; Inder Raj S. Makin; Charles W. Francis; Richard S. Meltzer

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 855 KB
• Volume: 24
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0301-5629
• DOI: 10.1016/s0301-5629(97)00233-0

✦ Synopsis

A suspension of human platelets in autologous plasma or buffer solution with and without a microbubble echo-contrast agent was exposed in vitro to 730 W/cm2 (ISPPA) ultrasound pulses of duration 40-160 microseconds at 1 MHz and 20-Hz pulse repetition frequency. Inertial cavitation occurring within the samples was monitored during the exposures and a measure of average cavitational activity was calculated for each 5-min exposure. This quantity, with the other acoustic parameters, accounted for up to 75% of the variation in the destruction of platelets as measured by Coulter counter and 83.5% of the release of bound radiolabel using a multiple-interaction statistical model. When the echo-contrast agent was absent, negligible cavitation occurred and the amount of platelet destruction was statistically indistinguishable from sham (no-ultrasound) exposures. Therefore, microbubble echo-contrast agents may interact with ultrasound to cause platelet lysis through the mechanism of inertial cavitation.